India's new-look ODI team got off to a bumper start, negotiating short-pitched bowling to post 331 and then fielding superbly to pull South Africa back every time they threatened to break away. MS Dhoni squeezed the life out of South Africa's chase with his shrewd employment of spinners - combined figures of R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Suresh Raina read 25-1-114-2 - as if this was subcontinent.

Overhead, at least, this was far from overhead. It was a cold morning in Wales, South Africa won the toss and asked India to bat first. Cue to bowl short then. Not like South Africa did, though. Apart from Morne Morkel, and in Dale Steyn's absence, none of their bowlers had the sting to trouble the young Indian batsmen. Shikhar Dhawan became only the second left-hand batsman to score a century against South Africa in six years, the 127 that he added with Rohit Sharma was the first hundred opening stand against South Africa in more than two years, and they became only the second opening pair in four years to have both scored 50 or more against South Africa.

South Africa weren't helped by their fielding either. The ball lobbed over two fielders at the boundary, when Shikhar Dhawan was on 27 and 70. Then AB de Villiers missed a stumping when Dhawan was 102. There were more than a few misfields along the way. Morkel pulled up with a quad strain too, and bowled only 6.5 overs for just 27. Ryan McLaren gave South Africa a chance, though, with some clever slower short balls towards the end, but India's slowing down wasn't quite Nagpur 2011, the last time these two teams played, when India had gone from 267 for 1 in the 40th over to 296 all out.

At the toss, when India were itching to have a bowl themselves, they would hardly have split hairs had they been offered more than 300. Morkel began the first over with testing short bowling, which Rohit did well to avoid. However, the others were gentle compared to Morkel, especially Lonwabo Tsotsobe and Rory Kleinveldt, who went for 164 in the 20 overs between them.

And Dhawan and Rohit hardly hit a shot in anger. It was all timing and placement after the cautious start. When Rohit eased into a Tsotsobe length ball for four through cover, the signs were all there. However, Rohit is known to throw it away too often. Not today. He attacked in a calculated manner, and from the other end saw Dhawan batting as if continuing from his Test debut.

Rohit remained fluent, Dhawan was crisp, and they took full toll of South Africa's rigid bowling and cold fielding. If Tsotsobe drew little help from the pitch, Kleinveldt kept bowling too short and too slow. McLaren began with deliveries down the leg side with fine leg up. Without taking risks, the openers raced away. When Rohit finally fell for 65 off 81, pulling a ball that was not short enough, India had already reached 127 in the 22nd over, and Dhawan was 53 off 49.

Suddenly Dhawan shifted to another gear, going after Tsotsobe, ramping him for four, and then charging him for a six over long-off. As expected, India took the Powerplay only at the latest possible moment, after Virat Kohli had picked out deep midwicket an over before the restrictions could be called upon. In the Powerplay, India scored 36 runs and lost two more wickets. When Dhoni fell in search of quick runs, the memories of Nagpur came back. However, Jadeja stayed cool, and capitalised on some short and length bowling towards the end to help India to 40 runs in the last 3.4 overs. He scored an unbeaten 47 off 29.

In reply, South Africa responded to early wickets with counterattack. Robin Peterson, the surprise No. 3, and de Villiers batted with ease to add a run-a-ball 124 for the third wicket. Petersen didn't bat like a pinch-hitter; he played proper shots, including a drive over extra cover off the bowling of Ishant Sharma. De Villiers began like a dream. Anything with the slightest hint of width was punched through covers.

Around the 15th-over mark, though, Dhoni began to play the game on his own terms. There was a spell of three overs for nine runs immediately after the two spinners began bowling in tandem. South Africa seemed happy with knocking the ball around, and Dhoni was happy with the calm. Amid the calm, Jadeja produced brilliance with a full-length diving save at midwicket. He had the presence of mind to not instinctively throw at the non-striker's end, where both the batsmen had ended up.

The spin choke followed during which JP Duminy reunited with his demons against spin, de Villiers got out to a pressure shot and David Miller was run out for a diamond duck. Faf du Plessis and Ryan McLaren threatened a late heist with a 50-run stand in less than five overs, but this time Suresh Raina ran back to take a good catch at mid-off. The injured Morkel chose to bat with McLaren, and their 48-run stand limited the net run-rate damage.

Excellent performance from India. Great opening partnership and excellent fielding. Yesterday's match proved that we can be a better fielding side than even SA. However, I'm a bit disappointed that we didn't capitalise fully on the start provided by the openers and the other disappointing factor was when our bowlers struggled to get the last wicket. We could've easily won by 50+ runs which could've boosted our NRR. Anyways hopefully it doesn't hurt us in the end like it did in T20 WC 2012.

SA clearly missed Kallis as the situation needed someone like him to anchor the innings. Unfortunately SA had no choice but to send in a lower order batsman to do that job. The biggest misfortune was the run out of Miller who could've done some damage and given SA a reasonable chance of chasing the total.

Thyagu5432
on June 7, 2013, 1:00 GMT

330+ to chase means the chasing team has to maintain a brisk rate right through the innings and they cannot do it without taking any risks. When Ashwin came on to bowl, SA was going at nearly 8 an over and when Ashwin had bowled 7 overs, he had given only 28 runs. Brilliant stuff, that really turned things around. He was plain unlucky not to have got a few wickets. And then the other spinners joined the party along with the fielders. A few brilliant run outs choked SA further and 330 went further and further away. Great performance by India. Dhoni, as usual, cool as a cucumber marshalled his resources to perfection. I think Jadeja deserved the MOM with contributions from bat, ball and the field.

2.14istherunrate
on June 6, 2013, 20:21 GMT

I would say that the competition has started off fortuitously with 600 runs in a day and lovely weather. It was good win for India first up so that they hold an immediate advantage in their group. I think spin will play a major part at Cardiff while both other venues will offer some help too. Dhawan looks a great player-it is impressive how India can just turn up a new batsman of quality so easil. Yadav's pace is also impressive and Sharma looks to have grown up a lot. They are lucky too to have such a big fan base already here. South Africa did well at the end but lack a major batsman and look to be the tournament 's early unlucky side with main bowlers going down fast. McClean had a great day but he was a lone hand at the end,though they will fight hard to make it the semis.

Nampally
on June 6, 2013, 18:01 GMT

Despite compiling a huge total of 330 runs in 50 overs, India was lucky to win the match by 25 runs. The pitch appeared to be a batting paradise. India had excellent opening by Dhawan & Rohit. But with 210 runs on board in 35 overs, it was the late batting heroics of Dhoni & Jadeja which enabled India to add another 120 runs in the last 15 overs. However even 330 looked unsafe total till Peterson was run out to make 155 for 3. Then a sudden loss of 3 more wkts within a space of 6 runs put India in command. But MacLaren had different ideas with a brilliant unbeaten 71 nearly carried SA to victory till he ran out of partners. The pace bowlers on both the sides were v. expensive! SA's top 3 seamers gave 230 runs in 30 overs - Morkel only beacon of light with about 6 overs @ 5 runs/over. The 3 Indian seamers gave 190 runs in 25 overs. Spinners Ashwin, Jadeja & Raina saved the bacon for India with 114 runs in 25 overs to help them carry over the finish line. Great century by Dhawan, Bravo!

Fast_Track_Bully
on June 10, 2013, 7:18 GMT

@ RednWhiteArmy. In that measures, England seems to be a a 5th or 6th division team based on their ODI performances!

Sumit_Mishra
on June 10, 2013, 6:46 GMT

Hence containing the powerful West Indies batting line up will be the key to India's success and judging the way West Indies batsman flared against the Pakistan spinners in their first match, an "IPL in-form" Amit Mishra can be the inspired selection in place of often misfiring and costly Ishant Sharma. Thus "over-dose" of spin with Offie R. Ashwin, Leggie Amit Mishra and Left armer Ravindra Jadeja on a dry and used Oval wicket will not be a bad option.

Sumit_Mishra
on June 10, 2013, 6:45 GMT

Come Tuesday, 11 June, and the Team India bowlers will be put to test by some of the mighty power hitters of World Cricket i.e. Chris Gayle, Marlon Samuels, Kieron Pollard, Dwayne Bravo & co. In the opening match, the way AB de Villiers and Robin Peterson were scoring at will, at one stage it seemed that South Africa will cruise through to the victory, despite chasing a mammoth total of 331. Had it not been the flash of brilliance in the field by Ravindra Jadeja in inflicting the "game changing" run out of Peterson followed by hara-kiri by the "perennial chokers" South African batsmen, including almost comical run out of David Miller, one of the centurions of IPL 2013; India would have well lost its way in the first match itself.
... cont

Sumit_Mishra
on June 10, 2013, 6:40 GMT

Well begin is half the job done and the format of this ICC Champions trophy 2013 is such that this literally holds good i.e. Team India will have to win one of the remaining two matches, against West Indies and Pakistan, to qualify into the semifinal round from this group of death. India's next two matches are against the most mercurial and temperamental teams of the tournament and judging from the performance in the first match, Team India will have to step up its effort, a few notches, to overcome the challenge in its upcoming matches.
... cont

Sumit_Mishra
on June 10, 2013, 6:38 GMT

In past, India, more or less, had always been a slow starter in the ICC multi-team events and therefore, often Team India lands itself in a "do or die" situation. Before storming into the finals of World Cup 2003, India had lost badly to Australia and just manage to scrap through against Holland. Even in the tournament wining performance of T-20 World Cup 2007, India had initially played a tie with Pakistan and then lost to the Kiwis in the preliminary rounds. Also, before lifting the World Cup 2011, Dhoni's men had played a tie against a below-par England and then lost to South Africa in the initial round. Hence a wining start against South Africa in the ICC Champions Trophy 2013 must have come as a big relief to the Indian team think tank.
...cont

Electric_L0ser_Wacko
on June 9, 2013, 7:59 GMT

@rednwhite army..good morning..sorry to have woken you up mate...champions trophy is a Odi tourney..not a test competition...and by that count india leads eng 22-3 in odi's in india...much better than 6-1 dont you think? just so that you know... not everyone outside england follows test cricket like the poms..more people follow odi n t20 than follow trott or compton bore us to death....england is not the whole world and people outside have different priorities.. we follow odi 's more passionately than the longer version and we absolutely own england in this format.

andrew27994
on June 7, 2013, 2:37 GMT

Excellent performance from India. Great opening partnership and excellent fielding. Yesterday's match proved that we can be a better fielding side than even SA. However, I'm a bit disappointed that we didn't capitalise fully on the start provided by the openers and the other disappointing factor was when our bowlers struggled to get the last wicket. We could've easily won by 50+ runs which could've boosted our NRR. Anyways hopefully it doesn't hurt us in the end like it did in T20 WC 2012.

SA clearly missed Kallis as the situation needed someone like him to anchor the innings. Unfortunately SA had no choice but to send in a lower order batsman to do that job. The biggest misfortune was the run out of Miller who could've done some damage and given SA a reasonable chance of chasing the total.

Thyagu5432
on June 7, 2013, 1:00 GMT

330+ to chase means the chasing team has to maintain a brisk rate right through the innings and they cannot do it without taking any risks. When Ashwin came on to bowl, SA was going at nearly 8 an over and when Ashwin had bowled 7 overs, he had given only 28 runs. Brilliant stuff, that really turned things around. He was plain unlucky not to have got a few wickets. And then the other spinners joined the party along with the fielders. A few brilliant run outs choked SA further and 330 went further and further away. Great performance by India. Dhoni, as usual, cool as a cucumber marshalled his resources to perfection. I think Jadeja deserved the MOM with contributions from bat, ball and the field.

2.14istherunrate
on June 6, 2013, 20:21 GMT

I would say that the competition has started off fortuitously with 600 runs in a day and lovely weather. It was good win for India first up so that they hold an immediate advantage in their group. I think spin will play a major part at Cardiff while both other venues will offer some help too. Dhawan looks a great player-it is impressive how India can just turn up a new batsman of quality so easil. Yadav's pace is also impressive and Sharma looks to have grown up a lot. They are lucky too to have such a big fan base already here. South Africa did well at the end but lack a major batsman and look to be the tournament 's early unlucky side with main bowlers going down fast. McClean had a great day but he was a lone hand at the end,though they will fight hard to make it the semis.

Nampally
on June 6, 2013, 18:01 GMT

Despite compiling a huge total of 330 runs in 50 overs, India was lucky to win the match by 25 runs. The pitch appeared to be a batting paradise. India had excellent opening by Dhawan & Rohit. But with 210 runs on board in 35 overs, it was the late batting heroics of Dhoni & Jadeja which enabled India to add another 120 runs in the last 15 overs. However even 330 looked unsafe total till Peterson was run out to make 155 for 3. Then a sudden loss of 3 more wkts within a space of 6 runs put India in command. But MacLaren had different ideas with a brilliant unbeaten 71 nearly carried SA to victory till he ran out of partners. The pace bowlers on both the sides were v. expensive! SA's top 3 seamers gave 230 runs in 30 overs - Morkel only beacon of light with about 6 overs @ 5 runs/over. The 3 Indian seamers gave 190 runs in 25 overs. Spinners Ashwin, Jadeja & Raina saved the bacon for India with 114 runs in 25 overs to help them carry over the finish line. Great century by Dhawan, Bravo!

Fast_Track_Bully
on June 10, 2013, 7:18 GMT

@ RednWhiteArmy. In that measures, England seems to be a a 5th or 6th division team based on their ODI performances!

Sumit_Mishra
on June 10, 2013, 6:46 GMT

Hence containing the powerful West Indies batting line up will be the key to India's success and judging the way West Indies batsman flared against the Pakistan spinners in their first match, an "IPL in-form" Amit Mishra can be the inspired selection in place of often misfiring and costly Ishant Sharma. Thus "over-dose" of spin with Offie R. Ashwin, Leggie Amit Mishra and Left armer Ravindra Jadeja on a dry and used Oval wicket will not be a bad option.

Sumit_Mishra
on June 10, 2013, 6:45 GMT

Come Tuesday, 11 June, and the Team India bowlers will be put to test by some of the mighty power hitters of World Cricket i.e. Chris Gayle, Marlon Samuels, Kieron Pollard, Dwayne Bravo & co. In the opening match, the way AB de Villiers and Robin Peterson were scoring at will, at one stage it seemed that South Africa will cruise through to the victory, despite chasing a mammoth total of 331. Had it not been the flash of brilliance in the field by Ravindra Jadeja in inflicting the "game changing" run out of Peterson followed by hara-kiri by the "perennial chokers" South African batsmen, including almost comical run out of David Miller, one of the centurions of IPL 2013; India would have well lost its way in the first match itself.
... cont

Sumit_Mishra
on June 10, 2013, 6:40 GMT

Well begin is half the job done and the format of this ICC Champions trophy 2013 is such that this literally holds good i.e. Team India will have to win one of the remaining two matches, against West Indies and Pakistan, to qualify into the semifinal round from this group of death. India's next two matches are against the most mercurial and temperamental teams of the tournament and judging from the performance in the first match, Team India will have to step up its effort, a few notches, to overcome the challenge in its upcoming matches.
... cont

Sumit_Mishra
on June 10, 2013, 6:38 GMT

In past, India, more or less, had always been a slow starter in the ICC multi-team events and therefore, often Team India lands itself in a "do or die" situation. Before storming into the finals of World Cup 2003, India had lost badly to Australia and just manage to scrap through against Holland. Even in the tournament wining performance of T-20 World Cup 2007, India had initially played a tie with Pakistan and then lost to the Kiwis in the preliminary rounds. Also, before lifting the World Cup 2011, Dhoni's men had played a tie against a below-par England and then lost to South Africa in the initial round. Hence a wining start against South Africa in the ICC Champions Trophy 2013 must have come as a big relief to the Indian team think tank.
...cont

Electric_L0ser_Wacko
on June 9, 2013, 7:59 GMT

@rednwhite army..good morning..sorry to have woken you up mate...champions trophy is a Odi tourney..not a test competition...and by that count india leads eng 22-3 in odi's in india...much better than 6-1 dont you think? just so that you know... not everyone outside england follows test cricket like the poms..more people follow odi n t20 than follow trott or compton bore us to death....england is not the whole world and people outside have different priorities.. we follow odi 's more passionately than the longer version and we absolutely own england in this format.

First time India Team has been played without one of the great player i.e (Sachin Tendulkar) in ICC Champion Trophy.
Missing great player in India team squad............

Al_Bundy1
on June 8, 2013, 21:30 GMT

I have been saying this all along - there's not shortage of talent in India. Just get rid of non-performers like Viru, Gauti and 10dulkar, and give a chance to youngsters. They will perform. The best thing this selection committee has done is to ease out those 3 non-performers. Selectors need to do the same thing in bowling - get rid of always "unlucky" Ishant, and give a chance to youngsters like Shami Ahmed, Mohit Sharma, Sandeep Sharma, etc. Young Bhuvi has already done enough to justify his selection.

TheUltimateTruth
on June 8, 2013, 17:51 GMT

To the original Harmony -- imitation is the best form of flattery my friend! And, to the not so creative imposters, Sachin faced the two big stars missing from the recent India-SA match, Steyn and Kallis, and scored 200 runs, the then highest ODI score ever. Dhoni cracked a fantastic quick fire half century and even Kartik scored 79 in that match. India made over 400 and both Steyn and Kallis went for nearly 9 runs an over each!! So, I wish Steyn and Kallis were playing in the recent match, India would have scored 400 again. In case you want to say something about a flat pitch, etc., on the same pitch where India made 400, SA couldn't even manage 250 despite ABD having a good day. So there!

Electric_L0ser_Wacko
on June 8, 2013, 9:36 GMT

@Harmony1111...wow sl supporters are out in their numbers with their frustration...pity you guys are hiding behind other teams wishing they beat india..cos your team beating india is like BD dreaming of winning a wc..wishful thinking!!! just worry about your team to avoid another humiliating defeat at our hands..its more of a formality these days with ind having to just turn up to the event to win against your team.

Harmony111
on June 8, 2013, 8:48 GMT

@Harmony1111: First of all nice name there. It sounds so original wow.

Why are you not careful with your stats? You know statsguru? Cricinfo have designed it pretty good.

Talking of Steyn, India did face him & Morkel both in the WC 2011. The supposedly spent forces of Sachin & Viru had put on 142 then, facing these same bowlers. So your notion that India can't face Steyn & co goes for a six.

Sachin's 100th Intl 100 may have come against BD but against whom did he score his 99th? He scored it vs South Africa facing these same bowlers. It just happened that his 100th 100 was vs BD but you see something deeper in it.

And what exactly is your point? India have many new players at the moment and so is SA. India won & SA lost. Where is the problem? Morkel's injury? Yes it was unfortunate but no one said similar thing for India when Zak got injured in Test 1 vs Eng or when GG got concussed or when Viru was coming back from an injury.....

Once again, really original name there. Great.

d-man951
on June 8, 2013, 8:31 GMT

Great work by India and to get 331 and defend quite comfortably. South Africa really need either Graeme Smith or Jacques Kallis or even both of them to provide the experience in the batting line up.

on June 8, 2013, 7:55 GMT

It was definitely a big win, even though the margin says 26 runs. SA were effectively out of the game by the 40th over, and after that were just trying to catch up to the net run rate by not getting bowled out. All the ppl saying that this wasn't a "big win" didn't really watch the game.

martin000
on June 8, 2013, 7:22 GMT

@Harmony1111, Shewag gambhir and Zaheer are dropped from the team coz of their form, smith, kallis and styen are DROPPED coz of their injuries. Both FORM and INJURY are a part of the game. No one is sleeping here mate. I think u r watching cricket these many years with ur eyes closed.Rest in Peace kid...

on June 8, 2013, 7:09 GMT

@Harmony1111..will ya stop showing your frustration and at least give some credit to india for the victory or its still hurting you badly?

on June 8, 2013, 6:51 GMT

wow ! what a batting display form rohit sharma! so pleasing on eyes. After sir viv richards who played d pull shorts with utter disdain, this man qualifies next. few shots he played esp his pull shots were totally eye-catching. he's only nemesis is his talent which provokes him 2 play six different shots in six balls, which is not possible irrespective of his talent. credit must b given 2 fletcher & dhoni who persisted with him. i want 2 see him play test cricket,bcos test cricket really need classy batsmanship, especailly in these times of t20 cricket where batsmen r nothing but sloggers.

on June 8, 2013, 6:06 GMT

great win for India ! strange that none of d comments give credit 2 rohit who was d unsung hero of d match. d first over from morkel[3 inswinging bouncers] was so deadly that india could have easily been 2 down, but credit 2 rohit who handed them magnificently under overcast conditions. way 2 go rohit sharma! hope he justifies d abundunt potential he's got.pls dont read much into steyn's absence. he could have made difference, but india outplayed SA comprehensively.

Harmony1111
on June 8, 2013, 5:11 GMT

@ Eclipse0990: "If Styen and Morkel and Kallis and Smith were missing...So were Sehwag and Gambhir and Tendulkar and Zaheer from India" what are you talking mate? Were you sleeping for last few years? All Styen,Morkel,Kallis & Smith have got injured. All Sehwag, Gambhir & Zaheer have been dropped due to their poor performances and Tendulkar retired from ODIs sometime ago. Didn't u know that? One more question. Don't u remember how India got whitewashed all tests, ODIs and T20s in England in the same tour when all those players were in? India is so lucky because finally Tendukar got a chance to play with Bangladesh so he could complete his 100th century. Otherwise he could have been seeking for his 100th century even now & Dhawan could have been dropped from Indian ODI squad for this Champions trophy.Then you know how badly India could have lost this match to SA. SA will bounce back and will win this Champions trophy.

Johnny_129
on June 8, 2013, 1:43 GMT

Great start for the new look India - Dhoni has really begun to construct a great team, post Drvid/SRT era. India has always had decent players but the attitude lacked at times. This team seems to have a sense of commaradory, belief and winning mentality. Now, they need to add consistency and win the tournament.

on June 8, 2013, 1:30 GMT

india never loose ad sa in champins trophy,check it

santhoo24
on June 7, 2013, 19:32 GMT

optimist says BIG WIN India, pessimist says poor/weak bowling unit, realist says some improvements need to be made but congrats team India. Here the interesting thing: idiot/imbecile says - India got lucky SA was without Steyn or some big name player, and some SA player was run out. I am a realist like many and LOL'ed reading some of the imbecile comments here. Stop being pessimist/imbecile and for once give credits where they are due. Cricinfo please publish.

gauravm5
on June 7, 2013, 18:56 GMT

@Harmony1111:::When it comes to play on spinning tracks, Ashwin & Sir Jadeja become Super Kings.

Harmony111
on June 7, 2013, 18:40 GMT

@Everyone:

Pls beware of imposters using names very similar to mine. In the past too I have seen such imposters and here too I have seen two guys with very similar monikers to mine. Some ppl seem to have an axe to grind against me as they can't do much when speaking directly to me. It is clear their intention is to post rubbish comments to make people think that I have gone senile.

One such duplicate chap is Harmony1111 i.e. H4 while mine is Harmony111 i.e H3. Another one is Hamony111, ----- pls note the missing 'r'.

Look at the lows some people are falling to.

(Btw, I won't go senile ever, I eat Chayawanprash daily :-p)

vsroc
on June 7, 2013, 18:05 GMT

Posted by vsroc on (June 7, 2013)
It was an excellent batting display by Shikar Dhawan in his debut ODI match against
S.Africa.He scored nicely in the company of Rohit Sharma.Overal,India performed well and resticted S.Aftrica in scoring by their three spinners.Further,India's fielding was superb in taking vital wickets of S.Africa at the right time.Let us hope that our boys will continue to perform well in the coming matches.

Eclipse0990
on June 7, 2013, 17:49 GMT

@Harmony1111 (Not harmony111)... If Styen and Morkel and Kallis and Smith were missing...So were Sehwag and Gambhir and Tendulkar and Zaheer from India. "LOL" And now I think you will go on to add that since Malinga wasn't in SA team, they lost. "LOL" Cut the crap. Even India ain't playing with players who can just ignite the ground with their reputation. "LOL" These are youngsters. Half the team is still trying to find their feet in the international cricket. Still they dealt with the pressure and lost less wickets than SA and scored more runs. "LOL". Had it been Steyn or your grandmother bowling, It would have been dealt with as well. Because if you are unaware, there is something called as GAME PLAN. Too bad you don't know about it. "LOL"

on June 7, 2013, 17:45 GMT

@Harmony1111 -

India never won against South Africa in the Champions Trophy? Check your stats. Your statistics are as funny as your team assessments.

conti...... did not play.Why this talk of who played and who did not.You got to play the best with what you have got. If any team is chasing 300+ target wickets will be lost whether at the start or at the end. SA got India wickets in the late middle part and Indian got these SA wickets at the start and late middle but not in the early middle and end part. So at the end SA lost by about 28 odd runs though game was over much earlier.

rock.rockyin
on June 7, 2013, 14:34 GMT

I was at the ground yesterday and it was complete fun . the crowd is atmosphere as always for any India match.

spiritwithin
on June 7, 2013, 13:34 GMT

sorry to burst the bubble but this SA team is very poor without Steyn & kallis,too much dependence on him,and for how long will you talk about Kallis??he's already 39,it shows that SA has not really produced a world class player for a very long time...some fans are saying that india beating SA is the biggest upset in CT history,really???SA is not the best ODI team out there,also a top side beating another top side is never an upset...atleast try to be fair when commenting,stop showing sour grapes..

Nitin2208
on June 7, 2013, 13:33 GMT

It was brilliant performance by India. I have always said woth India its their batting that needs to click & it did. Once you have 300+ Runs in a match in such a tight tournament pressure always going to be there on the other side. Even though India won the match I did not like the way they bowled after the 9th wicket especially Ishant Sharma ( I mean come on the guy was not able to bowl dot deliveries even to Morne when he was injured ) India could have easily won the match with 70 odd runs which would have given their NRR huge boost. As a Indian fan lets hope it doesnt come to that for India later in the tournament.
Great Performance from dhoni & co. though !! Keep it up !!

spiritwithin
on June 7, 2013, 13:28 GMT

@truthonly..if u truly want to have the MoM being given to McLaren then my question is why not to Jadeja..i will say that his 29ball 47 was far more valuable than McLarens 61ball 70 when he's nothing to lose,add jadeja's 2wickets giving away only 31runs in 9overs compared to Mclaren's expensive 70runs in 10overs,so in bowling jadeja did better,in fielding Jadeja's brillian run out was even more important,whereas McLarens run-out came with only 2balls left and just a miscommunication not due to exceptional fielding which actually helped Jadeja to get back to strikers end(he scored 8runs n next two balls)

rock.rockyin
on June 7, 2013, 13:20 GMT

@Harmony1111

India had never won at least a single ODI against South Africa during champions trophy before.

Are you speaking abt cricket? loll go check the stats

AricentHarish
on June 7, 2013, 12:55 GMT

@Harmony1111, actually, it's South Africa who have lost all 3 ODIs against India during the Champions trophy. And if you can have a look at Steyn's record in 2013, have a look at Smith's too. He has scored 12, 3, 10, 30 and 5 in his last five ODI innings. Also, if Kallis could have caused an impact, Yuvraj or Irfan Pathan also could have.

truthonly
on June 7, 2013, 12:32 GMT

@Pavinasen: Pressure? At the time the run outs occurred there was no real pressure, just miscommunication. As I said: good fortune for India more than anything else. One point nobody mentioned is the question why De Villiers did not opt to take the Powerplay when the spinners were slowing down the run rate? This would have forced India to go back to fast bowling. And with it the leaking of runs. Finally as to the MOM award: is this not supposed to go to the man who performed the best on the day, irrespective if he played for the winning or loosing team? Just a thought.

Harmony1111
on June 7, 2013, 12:13 GMT

This is just for your information. India had never won at least a single ODI against South Africa during champions trophy before.In IPL 2013 Steyn was one of the most economical bowlers and one of the best wicket taking bowlers. Almost all Indian batsmen struggled to face Steyn even on Indian tracks. When it comes to play on bouncy fast tracks Steyn becomes a king. India is very very lucky that they didn't have to face Steyn in this match. Moreover Morkel who was the most economical bowler yesterday got injured and couldn't even bat properly. If Morkel wasn't injured during the match it could have been one sided match in favour of SA. If Steyn also played SA could have easily trashed India. Finally India did the biggest upset in Champion trophy's history thanks to Steyn and Morkel. I didn't even mention here that Kallis and Smith are not playing LOL

on June 7, 2013, 11:52 GMT

SA are finished in this tournament ,this is not even thier best second string side ,too many key players missing ,so they may get into the semis but they are not a finals contender, not that it really matters ,this tournament is nothign compared to the intensity of the world cup ,it's just a small measure of where teams are in terms of form ,class and consistency .

dogcatcher
on June 7, 2013, 11:09 GMT

Well played India and with a new look and exciting side. I can't help but feel optimistic for SA future. The side is almost there but is missing some key components. Yes Kallis is a big missing element, however with a view to the future, selections could have been slightly better. Kleinveldt is promising but needs to do some more work before being an international one day player. Tsosobe seems to have lost his bite and is going for a lot now days. Why not have had Vernon Philander in the side? I would have also got Albie Morkel back in the team. Letting Ashwin and Jadeja just bowl is where the game for me was lost. That said this side looks pretty strong and bats very deep which means the team just plays positively and doesn't go back into it's shell. Amla, Ingram, AB, Faf, Miller, Duminy, Peterson, Morkel, McClaren, Philander, Steyn. (Morkel injured) If not would most probably replace Petersen. A strong squad of 12 though.

on June 7, 2013, 11:06 GMT

@Harmony111 Very well said. I think we shouldn't mind these comments at all, its natural that a country performing well will have the most number of haters. So I would say India is on the right track.

And I am sure SL will lose all its 3 matches even in the weaker group. Its clearly the team with the worst batting line up.

on June 7, 2013, 11:01 GMT

People like Halos have started looking for the head of Ashwin. Yesterday the spinners including Ashwin conceeded only 114 runs in 25 overs half the innings. you can calculate the balance runs conceded by the pacies. It does not mean the pacers did not do well but when somebody is throwing the bat in a do or die situation these are bound to happen. We should be reasonable in our judgement.

on June 7, 2013, 10:57 GMT

SA think twice about IPL

on June 7, 2013, 10:51 GMT

@quittthewhinging..the reason why McLaren was not given the MoM award was very simple-neither his batting nor bowling had any impact to make any contests..giving away expensive 70runs didn't stopped india from posting 331,neither his 71 runs at the end which was more to save face rather to win..whereas Dhawan's century was the main reason for india to post such a big total

on June 7, 2013, 10:20 GMT

Indian batsmen seems to have learned a lot from their warm up match against Australia where they were reduced to 55-5. They understood it very well that in these conditions, seeing off the new ball (first 6 overs or so) is very crucial and all the credit goes to Dhawan and Rohit.

One thing which not many people would have noticed was that South Africa were very smart to ask Morkel after the fall of Tsotsobe's wicket at 257-9. That last wicket partnership added 48 crucial runs ( crucial because it helped SA reduce the loss margin).

If SA would have declared after TSotsobe's wicket considering Morkel's injury, they would have lost the match by 74 runs hence making their net run rate as minus(-)1.480. Last wicket partnership helped SA to improve net run rate to minus (-)0.520. These net run rates matters a lot if points are tied at the end of league matches.

Its pity India could not qualify for the finals of Asia cup in 2012 despite beating both Pakistan & Srilanka in the league games.

I am not claiming that India will win this CT for sure. They seem to have a good chance but anyone can win it, even SL. But just in case India do win it or for that matter win any other match, you now already know the excuses some of the people will give.

Btw, anyone betting that --- SL WILL LOSE ALL 3 MATCHES ???
Wouldn't it be a sight?

Pavinasen
on June 7, 2013, 9:39 GMT

truthonly, its like saying if only M Vijay got a 100 India would have made 400 plus.Your logic on the runouts suggests that you are new as a spectator.Why run outs,pressure and how do you create pressure by strategic leadership.Who gets credit for that?

truthonly
on June 7, 2013, 9:38 GMT

I agree with quittthewhinging. MacLaren scored the second highest number of runs, was not out, had a struggling last partner, took the most number of wickets and effected a run out. All combined that surely counts for more than a simple century on a dream batting pitch against very wayward, rusty and eventually literally handicapped bowlers?

quittthewhinging
on June 7, 2013, 9:07 GMT

MOM = Dhawan? hahaha. McLaren took 3 wkts for 70 and made 71*. I wonder what that qualifies HIM for.

on June 7, 2013, 8:55 GMT

though this young india is performing well .we need some seniors

bravetigersmustwin
on June 7, 2013, 8:37 GMT

@pak fans ... Thanks for your comments. Though India and Pakistan has enemity we respect each other. Definitely im look foward for the awesome battle between black horses Pakistan and brilliant Indians

on June 7, 2013, 8:23 GMT

well played india i think the method n tough decision making thing has shifted from the likes os aus,eng,n sa to pak,ind and sri,,,,,i.e,sum old players either axed or rested n da new guns given a chance in a pack n datz important coz given chance 2 compete with a young player is way better dn given chance against an old horse,u knw wot i mean,,,,,,best of luck from a pakistani fan.

on June 7, 2013, 8:01 GMT

I rated 4 teams as my favorite before start of the tournament and India and South Africa were there as I expected I saw match going to the last over in the end better team won and its part of the game.
I don't count my country(Pakistan) as one of my favorite team. Other two are Newzeland and England. I am a cricket lover and would like to enjoy good cricket like I did in IPL.
Well played both teams India was simply better side at the end of the day, best of luck for rest of the matches to both teams :)

ramli
on June 7, 2013, 8:00 GMT

MSD at post match presentation clearly indicated that Rohit's elevation to opening slot is reserved for 3 matches ... anyway now that he has scored ... it is the turn of Vijay now to remain the bench-warmer ... so may be the case with Irfan if no bowler gets hurt ... good win to start with ... look forward to more short-pitched attack from WI

truthonly
on June 7, 2013, 7:58 GMT

Lucky win for India. If it weren't for the two very soft run outs SA would have won this. And that in spite of Morkel's injury and evident bowler rustiness! Don't forget most Indian players have had 2 months of IPL under their belt, while most South Africans have been hibernating. Yet another reason to abolish the IPL!

on June 7, 2013, 7:52 GMT

Otuwa on (June 7, 2013, 7:00 GMT) : he's no ordinary slogger. We all know how dangerous he is with his wide range of shots he has displayed over the time in IPL. He can smack almost any bowler on his day and yesterday was his day. I know our bowling is not very good but still better than your team SL. Give the dude some credit for batting fearlessly in pressure condition.Luck is when preparation meets opportunity and branding our success as luck is nothing blatant display of your obduracy that india is below-par team etc etc. Get over it or be ready to face more such disappointment in future.

on June 7, 2013, 7:44 GMT

Credit goes to fielding, first time i ve watched Indian fielding better than South African fielding. There were many things that goes in Indian favor, like Steyn's absence, Morkel's injury & a couple of run out. India need not to get even slightest of complacency from here. In these format even a single loss can push u out of the tournament. Umesh & Ishant have to be more accurate & consistent, they have the ability to pick wkt & conditions r going to suit then just more discipline is the need of the hour.

panditharadhya
on June 7, 2013, 7:41 GMT

I cannot say that it is an excellent performance, but there is issue in bowling department, it sure batting bit good today. As MSD said there might be 30 odd runs shortage from the situation were 220 odd runs just couple of wicket losts in 34 overs. seam bowlers conceded lots off runs almost a 200 runs in 25 overs. but where as spinners only conceded 110 odd runs...! need to think abt the seamers department.

DINESHCC
on June 7, 2013, 7:34 GMT

DAVE USA: That was hilarious. Hope many more to come from you for the remaining matches.

on June 7, 2013, 7:30 GMT

India have a solid batting line up so the manage the big total against South Africa.but india still improve their bowling,Jaddu is give a marvellous performace for india.jaddu and dhavan comfirm their berth in the indian team..finally cool captain achive the success agaist SA..India is the one and only team to win the Champions Thropy..

yorkslanka
on June 7, 2013, 7:24 GMT

Congrats to India on a good win..they are certainly looking dangerous with bat and ball and I think they will certainly get to the finals...I was disappointed in such poor running from the Safs ,what on earth was going on??

on June 7, 2013, 7:14 GMT

I don't understand how come it could be termed as a "Big Win" !!! ... 26 runs margin could be big, if it is a t-20, but for ODI, it is not big at all, rather a very small one, it seems like the reporter is still in the T-20 mood.

TheOnlyEmperor
on June 7, 2013, 7:06 GMT

How is it that when a fast bowler like Stein bowls there is no mention of "the pitch became better for batting" but that excuse is provided when our bowlers display incompetency?

Bhuvansewar and Praveen can swing the ball while Ishant and Umesh have not yet learnt the SKILL of moving the ball even by an inch. Raw, brainless, mindless pace will prove expensive as Lee and Shoaib will testify from experience in the early part of their careers.

The bowler's objective is to bowl TIGHT and wicket to wicket and in doing so, force the batsman to commit mistakes by taking unnecessary chances.

I would rate any bowler who can bowl at less than 4 runs per over in his 10 overs as precious. More precious than a guy who takes 3 wickets giving away 70 runs.

The bowlers' main job is to give every opportunity to surpass the total to the batsmen ( of their own team and not the opposition!)

RaunakVerma
on June 7, 2013, 7:06 GMT

Team India played really well against the chokers South Africa, though the latter looked favorites before the commencement of the match. Toss, which was an important factor in this match got nullified due to good weather conditions just after the start of the play. Ball was doing a bit in early overs but than the bounce and carry was almost constant throughout the match for the both the teams. Indian openers played the waiting game and gave the necessary respect to the African bowlers seeing their pace and bounce. They were ready to leave the deliveries. Once they got acclimatized to the pitch & conditions, they had set the platform for the middle order to put up a huge total. South Africa tried their level best to chase a good score put up by Team India and played to their potential despite Kallis & Smith not being in side. The run-outs in the middle of overs proved to be an expensive affair for the Proteas and that is where they lost the game. Overall, a very good cricket match. #RON

latecut_04
on June 7, 2013, 7:00 GMT

Right now I am eating a bit of humble pie which never tasted sweeter!!!!related to playing Rohit sharma.No one seems to have noticed his class because of Shikhar's century.Also this was a do or die match for him because another failure and he many not have played for a loong time.Raina seems to be an automatic non selection for matches outside Asia.Unfortunate given his fielding but thats the truth and his eternal wait on the backfoot for the short ball combined with a not so short ball at a lively pace(it was climbing on him when he got that edge)got him out which would have affected India's chances if not for Jadeja's performance.Nevertheless credit needs to be given to Indian batsmen for playing fearlessly on the backdrop of a lot of un wanted controversy.But Umesh and Ishant need to perform better much better (especially Ishant if you cant bowl well with the cushion of 330+ runs when are you going to turn up..come on Ishant..)AND @Baseball-Sucks is AndyZaltzman in disguise..

Otuwa
on June 7, 2013, 7:00 GMT

Indian bowling attack is not good enough.Because they couldn't take Robin Peterson's wicket.We all know he is a tailender and wild slogger.That shows India poor bowling attack.Anyway finally Indians took Peterson's wicket thanks to Jadeja.Miller's wicket was taken thanks to faf.Anyway luck is permanant.Good Luck to India...

Naresh28
on June 7, 2013, 6:58 GMT

@DaveUSA - thanks for the humour. Really funny.Hope to read some more
from you in the coming games.

GRVJPR
on June 7, 2013, 6:58 GMT

@TheOnlyEmperor Mate, did you watch the match? The wicket was so flat in 2nd innings. And by you logic then Morkel and south african bowlers should also not get selected because they look toothlees throught the game. At least Indain bolwers picked up wickets at crucial moments. South got close due to slogging of peterson adMc laren at the end. India showed variety with spinners and were brilliant in the field. Also India, for once, had a poor batting powerplay, otherwise south africa was all set to chase 400. This young Indian team without 7 regular players from world cup has done spledidly well. The fact is that Indain young players played responsibly while south african young players CHOKED!

colombo_SL
on June 7, 2013, 6:55 GMT

Rohit Sharma did well to make a half century. He was able to mute some of the Indian fans who called him as "Nohit Sharma".

GRVJPR
on June 7, 2013, 6:53 GMT

That's the difference between India and South Africa. India chases brilliantly while south africa chokes. They seem to always take solace in so called "Good Fight".

colombo_SL
on June 7, 2013, 6:48 GMT

This is not a lucky win at all. India is at the top of the ODI rankings at the moment.They deserved that win. We have to assess the opponents well to be successful in the Champions Trophy.

on June 7, 2013, 6:47 GMT

Do any of the multitude of Indian fans who have expressed displeasure with Duncan Fletcher concede that the man is doing a great job in rebuilding the side? The test team is still a work in progress, but this one day side shows what talent he is developing. His touch is also evident in the hard earned improvements in fielding. Gary Kirsten papered over a the cracks in Indian cricket, and was fortunate that other sides were worse than India. He saw the approaching car crash coming and jumped on the SA bandwagon when they were already a well developed side. The same can be said of Allan Donald. Hopping from Zimbabwe to NZ to SA, he had nothing to do with the development of Steyn, Morkel, Philander or Kallis. AD's work should be showing in the development of the second string who are truly second class. Just saying...

Naresh28
on June 7, 2013, 6:47 GMT

A good win but India needs to lift their game in the pace department. We sorely miss ZAKS and India struggles to find a good left armer. Our pace crew give away too much.In the coming games we will find teams exploiting this. India needs high scores to take game and lucky to have spinners to compensate. Only
Ishant can work out what he does wrong. His height can either be an
advantage or disadvantage depending on him. He needs to hit the right areas
regularly.

Harmony111
on June 7, 2013, 6:47 GMT

@Shan156: Ishant is totally unlike Derbach. At least JD has a lot of variations and he goes for runs cos he tries them too much and hasn't learnt full control over them as yet. On the other hand Ishant has hardly any variation, he just keeps bowling that short outside the offstump line with no thought. JD is nearly as quick (or quicker) than Ishant, tends to use his brain more than he should and can someday pick wickets due to one of his balls landing right. Ishant can do none of this.

He has been here since 2008. 5 years is a long long time. I can't believe that guys like Starc & Cummins can become leader in mere 12-13 months while this man just doesn't rise. Brett Lee & Shoaib were strikers right from the start. Even Bhuvi has shown more promise and control than this man. All he knows is inswing. When that doesn't happen his balls are gifts. He can't even bowl a bouncer well.

On top he has this irritating mullet as if he is some rockstar. That is the only thing he's grown since 08.

Sirah75
on June 7, 2013, 6:46 GMT

A very good match , after reading lot of comments many of them not even praise abt Sikhar Dhawan , who put a maiden century not only in ODI , but also in Test cricket. In South Africa team , Mclaren played a lone battle both as bowler taking 3 wkts( Rohit 1 ,4 & 5 wkt DK ,Raina ) and also top scorer of 71* (61 balls ) after SA was in 188/6 and also last wkt partnership of nearly 50 runs. According to me , even I am indian ,as a cricket fan , I would like to give MOM to Mclaren , though
the player it is in losing team

colombo_SL
on June 7, 2013, 6:45 GMT

Congratulation India! They won the most important first game of the contest. I think, this psychological advantage may help them to proceed well in this contest. Their batting performance is absolutely brilliant at the moment. The pitch is typical subcontinental one. Hope they can do well in the next couple of matches.

pradip1127
on June 7, 2013, 6:43 GMT

Well done India. keep it up.

screamingeagle
on June 7, 2013, 6:15 GMT

Good win for India, that's all. The usual problems were there. In ability to really grind the opposition down, like they did when they lost wickets at bad times. Bowling. Hmm, what was Ishant doing? Likewise the other seamer. There were too many loose balls, at least one every over. BK did well enough, but the surprise was Jadeja, he did brilliant. Looking forward to the bowling being better in the coming matches. Pak will not let the spinners bowl well, so the seamers will need to step up.

dariuscorny
on June 7, 2013, 6:14 GMT

Ishant Sharma gave runs at the rate more than 7 runs an over,let me remind you the pitch became a belter after the first 15overs of the match,even SA bowlers were hammered,yes Ishant needs confidence just like Rohit Sharma and yes he needs to bowl with his full potentiall i.e in excess of 140k.....

TheOnlyEmperor
on June 7, 2013, 6:14 GMT

I was most disappointed by Umesh Yadav and Ishant Sharma. How is it that bowlers who get SELECTED for India cannot control their line and length and end up giving more than 7 runs per over, with a boundary in each over?
I think a person such as Stuart Binny who can bowl stump to stump and can swing the ball will be far more effective than these sort of bowlers.

Ishant Sharma has not yet learnt to bowl yorkers even after so many years of International exposure and that's a shame! - This observation was made by Wasim Akram during the current IPL.

It's time that our cricket experts sit up and start criticising our bowling performance rather than extolling on the batting. Had there not been those 3 runouts, SA would have definitely won the game. Please read the signals, before it's too late.

DINESHCC
on June 7, 2013, 6:08 GMT

HALEOS: When SA was scoring 8 runs per over, at one stage, the asking rate reduced to below 6. Ashwin only contained the run rate and had given away only 4 runs per over till his 9th over. Because of Ashwin and Jadeja only the asking rate increased. Nevertheless, I also feel, let Ashwin and Vijay play only test matches. They are not suited for ODIs and T20s.

on June 7, 2013, 6:00 GMT

Congrats Team India, this team looks very good But I prefer two fast bowlers in the fifteen member squad one Shammi Ahmad in place of Vinay Kumar and Mohith Sharma in place of Amith Mishra

Dev_Kumar
on June 7, 2013, 5:57 GMT

Well played India, Bating & fielding was very good.

ashok1259
on June 7, 2013, 5:52 GMT

@DaveUSA : Well Said :) It is very true as u said ;)

gibbs.175
on June 7, 2013, 5:51 GMT

Bad luck for SA usually ...rory is weak link in SA squad ...so now everything is over again....

r.bhuppy
on June 7, 2013, 5:49 GMT

Congrats India, wonderful win over saf our batsmen and fielder showed thier class but fast bowling is still a concern and ishant need to improve himself he just bowled like a bowling machine with no variation at all just length bowling at a moderate speed of 130 to 135 kmph and Umesh was to much drifting on pads.

on June 7, 2013, 5:48 GMT

i think that proteas shouldn't feel too much let down,what i liked about this unit was that,even at 257-9 they were fighting,there is no shame in being out for 305 in chasing a huge total like 331..the last pair at least made sure that the team's run rate didnt take a huge beating and looked to play 50 overs,African bowling was dismal but again when you lose your trump card and leader of the pack and only bowler who was bowling well it doesn't help,but still the bowling was poor..but i still think that south africa aren't done yet,you could tell that after watching Mclaren hetting to 50.the way the whole team applauded and especially AB considering they were losing,with Steyn back and if Morkel gets fit i still back the Saffers to reach the semis

on June 7, 2013, 5:47 GMT

well played India. But they were lucky steyn wasn't playing. Morkel was the only fast bowler who bowled well. But with the ever reliable steyn, no way in the world would the opening partnership be this big. And rohit sharma and dhawan wouldn't have any one to feast off.

GRVJPR
on June 7, 2013, 5:47 GMT

@ himanshu.team Then what about south african bowling attack? They looked more clueless to me. Atleast Indian bowlers tried to pitch the ball up and extracted bit of swing early on. Then India showed variety in attack with spinners which we didn't saw in South African bowling unit. I would say very good performance considering none of the bowlers had a previous experience in England.

Rohit...
on June 7, 2013, 5:46 GMT

@ himanshu.team : Still batting for Pathan.... That guy with no swing and no pace can only play club cricket. I admit the trio went for plenty, but they did bowl well and that too against the likes of De-Villiers who was chasing 330+ with extra fielder inside the circle.... He must have really missed pathan whom he can hit for 90 in his 4 overs before captain Dhoni had to spare him of his quota.

on June 7, 2013, 5:44 GMT

Inspite of the win, there're lots to ponder over for MS. First and foremost, the inability to not loose too many wickets, let alone scoring in the power plays. Then capitalizing on after getting a decent start has been of late another big problem.
With two new balls, it offers the faster men to do something all the time, but yet again Umesh and Ishanth has been wayward once too often. They should clearly utilize the art of death bowling and bowling those yorkers. (Atleast B Kumar and U Yadav got it somewhat right in the penultimate and ultimate overs). You need to bowl and bowl and bowl those yorkers, If U miss I Hit. Perhaps India would love to had the another spinning option, which Yuvraj had given them for so long. Raina can't get you wickets like Yuvi. Perhaps Rohit should also try to rotate his arms.
As far as positives, Shikhar Dhwan, and perhaps this is the ONLY best position that Rohit Sharma could get to prove his mettle. If he doesn't continue the good form, this shud b it.

on June 7, 2013, 5:37 GMT

I don't know what Ishant Sharma was doing in this team. He did nothing except luckily getting those two wickets. There was pace in Umesh Yadav's bowling and movement and variation in Bhuvaneshwar Kumar's. Ishant had nothing to offer. Seriously disappointed. I think yesterday belonged to Shikhar and Jaddu.
Jaddu's efforts were monumental in the victory. He's the sole difference between India and South Africa yesterday

dork29
on June 7, 2013, 5:37 GMT

This performance emphatically proves that the removal of Sehwag, Sachin, Gambhir and Yuvraj ( whose fitness is not what it used to be) has made the biggest difference in the quality of fielding. That was Dhoni's biggest pain point all these days. One of the main reasons we had been losing recently has been poor fielding. 'Sir' Jadeja has proved a pretty able replacement for Yuvraj with his all round skills. Dhawan is here to stay - he is fearless, supremely confident and most importantly his footwork seems very assured unlike Gambhir's - especially recently. The opener's slot is a bit iffy: I am not sure whether Rohit should be a long term option.He is the ideal candidate to replace Sachin.The area of concern is definitely Ishant Sharma,Another Umesh Yadav would help. Else, it was a pretty professional performance and Doni's captaincy and the reading of the situation has been just PERFECT. Easily the greatest captain India has ever had, particularly in the shorter version.

landl47
on June 7, 2013, 5:36 GMT

You have to hand it to India and M. S. Dhoni. This is a largely rebuilt side from that which won the WC in 2011 and to have come this far in just 2 years is remarkable. The batting looks good (even without Pujara), the bowling is varied and suitable for all surfaces and the fielding has improved enormously. The guiding hand in this is Dhoni and he is rapidly reaching legendary status with his ability to fill a multitude of roles.

Great win from what looks like a very good young Indian side.

liteonon
on June 7, 2013, 5:34 GMT

Dhoni had full of praise to Rohit Sharma in the presentation. A few days back Rohit is the man who took the ipl trophy from MS. I fear if anybody rather than MS as captain and lost the ipl to Mumbai indians lead by Rohit, he would not even be in the playing XI. But not so MS to let him play and had a lot of praise for his play, GREAT MSD!

mridul25
on June 7, 2013, 5:32 GMT

Any team that fails to defend a 310+ score is a under-par team. India may be called a flat track bully etc, but if the opposition cannot perform on a flat track or cant play spin or cant handle pressure or choke under pressure, who's mistake is that. India were put into bat thinking it was a overcast condition and the ball will swing, and if it had and India lost 4 wickets in 20 overs I don't see any Indians complaining. You play with the conditions that are offered especially on a neutral venue. Short pitch bowling was (assumed) weakness for Indians and they prevailed, spin was weakness for SA and they succumb. India worked on weaknesses (fielding, better shot selection for short pitch bowling) while I don't see that with SA. Its not just spin, SA had a poor warm-up game against quality fast/seam bowling from Pakistan. By margin it looks like 26 run win, mentally its a BIG win for India. In 3 games (including warm-ups) India has beaten two quality teams.

crikcinfo
on June 7, 2013, 5:31 GMT

@Narabavi: Seriously ?? Know one thing. ICC doesn't have any curators in their payroll. Every ground in the world has a curator of its own and they will only prepare the pitch irrespective of international or domestic match.

sachin_vvsfan
on June 7, 2013, 5:24 GMT

Those who are saying it was not a big win and India were lucky, Have you even watched the game? It wasn't a big win if you consider the margin. But SA were technically out of the contest when they were 7 down with nearly 100 runs required. Also Morne morkel too would have gone for the runs if he bowled in the death.
As an Indian fan i wanted Indian victory but i also wanted to see some glimpses of Miller who is becoming a dangerous batsman.
Faf was again involved in a run out at crucial stage(like in the last WC). He seems to be the who is choking at pressure situations. It is not over yet for any team and i wish the pakistanis best for their next match.

on June 7, 2013, 5:12 GMT

Stupid match,,,, no excitement. No fun when pitch helps batsmen,,,, every team should include 11 batsmen only,,,,,,This is not the cricket,, this was club class performance by both the teams. Even dhoni also was looking interestless

jango_moh
on June 7, 2013, 4:45 GMT

excellent by india!!!! fast bowlers need to do better tho....

himanshu.team
on June 7, 2013, 4:36 GMT

This matchi highlighted India's wekness: pace bowling. All the pace bowlers went for plenty and looked clueless on how to control the SA batsmen, even the lower order ones.
India must not get carried away, as such a weakness will be exploited by other better teams in the tournament. I would bring Pathan back in place of Ishant Sharma. Ishant does not swing, can not bowl yorkers and when he bowls slow it is invariably a length ball in the arc begging to be put out of the park. On top it he slides down the leg side way too often to give away wides or leg side boundaries. Pathan would not be incisive himself but he has got better brains and would not go for so many. Plus he is proper batsman and very good fielder. this change will improve India in the field and provide even more depth in the batting.

Un_Citoyen_Indien
on June 7, 2013, 4:32 GMT

@SaadRocx: Well spoken bro. I agree with you that the Trophy should return to Asia. Good luck to Pak and all our Lankan bros too.

on June 7, 2013, 4:22 GMT

The sign of a good team is to go back to the drawing board even after a success. Among many positives, Dhawan did not look sharp in the field, Bhuvaneswar bowled a no-ball in the final over in the last over when even sixes of every ball could not have helped South Africa. Rohit Sharma's laid back attitude saw him conceding two extra runs when things were looking tight.

PadMarley
on June 7, 2013, 4:21 GMT

Isnt cricket beautiful that one day you grab the first five wickets under your name, and within a matter of few days you give 75 within your 10 overs... !!!

Narabavi
on June 7, 2013, 4:12 GMT

I think in ICC events, pitches are arrange by ICC curators, not by Home officials. ICC want to consolidate Sub continent teams, specially India becuse of their fan base. That's why they prepared these types of highways !

Vivekaks
on June 7, 2013, 4:09 GMT

Good win...and it augurs well that India has posted 300+ totals on 3 consecutive occassions albeit 2 of them being warm ups. and they were against good bowling sides...and guys making come backs scoring centuries always pleases the crowd.

So India have batted well and will continue to do that. Indian spinners have bowled well and will continue to, even though they may not get wickets....the problem area is again the Pace attack...against aussie, it was more self destruction than great bowling. We probably are playin on flat pitches right now....but that shudnt be an execuse to leak almost 190+ runs in 25 overs. almost 8 runs an over.
English conditions are probably the best for fast, swing bowling. If we cant capture wickets here, then we can resign the dream of bcoming world number one in test cricket.
Ishant Sharma, i feel, is still a baggage...all his variations are hit me balls...such is his prowess...i seriously feel, we need bowlers who can restrict if not take wickets!!

Electric_L0ser_Wacko
on June 7, 2013, 3:59 GMT

Well well well...where are the wolves now? Come on AB ...did you really think that would work?...we've seen this before as well with the SL Lions (ahem...scared cats really who think they're tough..) but they've gone hiding today..poor chaps some of them would've watched d whole match hoping india would lose..feel sorry for them really...Great work men in blue..love your work !!!!!

Fast_Track_Bully
on June 7, 2013, 3:52 GMT

It will be a do or die situation for SA now. They have to win remaining matches. For India, things will be easier now. Another 300+ score can ensure win over WI and can chase anything under 300. Vs. Pak - a 250+ will be enough and anything around 280 can chase. All the best team India.

on June 7, 2013, 3:51 GMT

The match reminded me of the first match of the World Cup 2011, when India posted more than 300 for Bangladesh to chase, and Bangladesh like SA did yesterday, managed to get past 300, yet lost the match. That was also the opening match, and India were just a bit rusty on the field. I wouldn't mind at all if the cup ends up to the same side as it happened 2 years ago!!

Romenevans
on June 7, 2013, 3:49 GMT

Those who are saying India's bowling is weak they are either ignorant or can't see the way things have changed in Indian cricket. Did you see how Bhuvneshver Kumar was beating Hashim (The Great. Respect!) Amla with his in-swingers? and then there was no swing the moment ball got 3-4 overs old, that is because they are using "kookaburra ball" that doesn't swing after few initial overs.

Let english curators leave some grass on the pitch, we'll see this Indian attack bowling well.

On the other side the problem with SA was that they were counting on India's past reputation of not playing short ball well, and they kept on bowling short and all the Indian players kept on smacking them.

Players who had short ball problem are now out of the team and only Raina is left with short stuff problem, rest all the other players are good at playing bouncy stuff, because they are technically correct. Biggest change is in fielding, all these young Indian fielders are excellent anywhere in the field.

bull01
on June 7, 2013, 3:48 GMT

I am not sure why this post is headlined as " a big win" for India. In all honesty, for South Africa to get within striking distance and post over 300, given some pretty disastrous and unnecessary run outs would support this. The total was very achievable. Miller is a clean finisher. Steyn wasnt playing and Morkel was severely impaired. Put these guys into the mix in a real way, and I seriously doubt 331 was nearly good enough. Good win for India, but I wouldnt hold it up as a bench mark victory. I was impressed with the way that South Africa played the game out with some foresight of potential net run rate in mind. Very mature and potentially decisive at the later stages of the group.

on June 7, 2013, 3:36 GMT

India known to be a slow starters in big tournaments.
Not this time, started with a baaaaang...

ankit_daga
on June 7, 2013, 3:30 GMT

Noticed a mistake in the first line of the second para :

"Overhead, at least, this was far from overhead"

praveen4honestremark
on June 7, 2013, 3:27 GMT

Team India played well and deserved the result. Calling Indian team lucky is wrong. There is nothing called lucky, it is better team that wins. Even a win by 1 run is a win.
Indian team played against SA team may be with out Steyn but can you people who call this victory as lucky can surely say he would have made the difference when bowling to Indian batsman?? Surely not in my view. Dhawan and Steyn play for Sun risers so Steyn could have been easily negotiated. So it is wise on part of all to give credit to team with out thinking what should have been?? Morkel fitness was concern, so is that Indian fault?? If Dhoni and Karthik would have been out of Injury and SA would have won then is SA lucky?? Just accept that a team wins because it deserves. Indian fielding was great yesterday.Congratulations Team India.

Narbavi
on June 7, 2013, 3:19 GMT

@getsetgopak: oh really? is it why you lost the one day series against them recently? watch out, they will beat you for sure!!

Hate.ME
on June 7, 2013, 3:08 GMT

@ PAKISTANI Fans who are congratulating India -

Thanks guys for your good wishes. That means a lot to us. All the very Best to you guys too for today's match. We Ind fans in general are admirers of your fast bowlers.

A win is a win after all... but so called " big win" , I'm not sure 26runs win counts into that,lol... anyways Indians gratz on the "WIN" ... Wonder what would've been the result if the better 13.1 overs (steyn's & Morkel's) being bowled today !!! great to see Dawan & Karthik (only decent guys) play for India (only reason I could find to watch indian team plays)

on June 7, 2013, 2:58 GMT

@siri12345 and baseball sucks: First and fore mostly you guys dont have any sense of cricket, You want India to lose so badly but you are disappointed by the fact that India are playing like champions... I understand your feelings 3 times in a row (including the practice matches) it has been like this.... So stop crying go home, get a life!! If you think you have a life well it is pathetic

Greatest_Game
on June 7, 2013, 2:54 GMT

@ Jayzuz asked "Why are these pitches almost the same as sub-continent tracks - dry, grassless, lifeless," & then stated "We saw a similar thing in the SA tour to Australia, where the SA quicks got absolutely massacred in the first two tests."

Are you accusing the ICC of preparing the same kind of" dry, grassless, lifeless" tracks that Australia prepared for their series against South Africa? WHY would the ICC use the same kind of "less than sporting" tactics that Aus employed when trying to prevent SA from taking yet another series, in Aus?

You seem to want to see "The test match pitches (which) were normal English pitches with a healthy covering of grass," & yet you condemn South Africa for pitches that are green - that is, have a "healthy covering of grass."

I can't understand your point? The CT pitches are bad - they have no grass. Aus also has bad, no grass pitches. Normal Eng pitches have grass , & this is good. However, SA pitches are bad because they have grass. Huh??

batman_gothamcity
on June 7, 2013, 2:33 GMT

good match SA fought hard upto 47th over then it got too stiff . For me Jadega was the MOM though Shikar played well. Jadeja's crucial 47 along with 9-31 and feilding talent gives such a balance to Dhoni . Those who are crying for lively pitches must note that Administrators and crowds want 600 runs to be scored and match going the full distance , rather than some 180 pitch . I would prefer Irfan in next match as he will bring variety in bowling and he bats and fields better than Ishant .

mahmudhassan
on June 7, 2013, 2:30 GMT

How the hell it was a big win!!!!
I am just wondering what is the definition of a big win??

heathrf1974
on June 7, 2013, 2:28 GMT

Another good win by India. Some are saying the wickets are flat, lifeless or not green enough. They need to remember these are ODI wickets and not test wickets. ODI and T20 wickets usually are universally the same that encourage batting strokes. Test wickets usually have local characteristics.

Uppercut07
on June 7, 2013, 2:16 GMT

Indians have finally figured out a way to beat Saffers! Injure their(SA's) top players by 'over working' them in the IPL: Kallis, Steyn, Morkel ALL played IPL non-stop

cjchanaka
on June 7, 2013, 2:15 GMT

As my wish india won the match. But SA poor bowling helped them a lot,although cardiff is always good for spinners SA didn't use left arm spinner, poor captaincy by AB in the middle period of indian inning cost them, I can't see any chance for SA to qualify for semis in the absence of thir main two strike bowlers, anyway India's fielding was impressive, if they want to go semis they have to do a lot in next two.But I don't think so..........

on June 7, 2013, 2:08 GMT

South Africa is missing something.

Javed_17
on June 7, 2013, 2:07 GMT

I called jadaeja and asjwin as important players in this game, two wickets for jadeja and the best economy rate of the match, added his 47 runs of 29 balls i think he deserves more credit for such a terrific performance.

On another note i saw no teeth in the south african bowling line up. maclaren and tsotsobe got wickets but were expensive, not a good start for south africa at all.

Further not impressed by india's pacemen, very expensive and at some times appeared to me very ordinary lines and lenghts. I think india were fortunate to get away with a win when even 330 is barely defended

on June 7, 2013, 1:50 GMT

somebody ask sourav ganguly to stop using the word "TERRIFIC"....and don't put him in commentary box when dhoni or kohli is batting because that's when he uses that word more often.....

as for as this match is concerned,the chase was over when devilliers gotout....IND fast bowlers need to think abt their bowling ,they kept bowling outside off stump to devilliers and peterson inside 10 overs and conceded lots of runs...our spinners bowled brilliantly and our batting was great,we shud have scored more than 350 after the kind of start we got but 331 is still a good score.GUD LUK IND..cricinfo pls publish

Siva_Bala75
on June 7, 2013, 1:49 GMT

These are sub continent conditions, the dry pitch, no seam, etc. except that its a bit cooler. Give these conditions, India will win 8 out of 10 times. With the IPL experience, 7 best IPL batsmen playing for India now, this Indian batting is super strong. The only thing that will stop them from winning is seam and swing.

Haiderpakawsome
on June 7, 2013, 1:31 GMT

@siri12345, are you serious in saying that the SL group is the favourite one to win the comp. Group has SL who couldnt defend the score over 300. you could imagine how mediocre the bowling attack is? Coming to Eng, not to mention about their current woes with series loss in their own backyard. Aussies without clarke can't be better as well. now left with Kiwis on which I would agree that they are one of the favourites with their current form. So please dont compare the 3 club level team with world class bowling attack like Junaid, Steyn and world class batting like ABD, Kohli, MSD etc.

BokkeForever
on June 7, 2013, 1:13 GMT

Firstly congratulations to India. No excuses. They batted, bowled and fielder better than SA end of story.

Sorry state for SA. Worst bowling I've seen in years from the boys in green. Lopsy and Kleinfelt have to, bring anyone else in. AB struggling to bring the same presence to the side as Smith has on test cricket. Looked really average today. Very flat in the field, seemed directionless.

Re earlier post re Fuf, pls remember he won us a test series in Aus.

on June 7, 2013, 0:59 GMT

Very good start of the first match of the Last Champions Trophy.
It was a very good run chase by South Africa but they lost it in the middle overs. The run out Peterson was probably the turning point of the match where game just started to slip out of South Africa's hand.Bad luck to South Africa & Congrats to India.

on June 7, 2013, 0:53 GMT

We Indian fans should be very happy that the younger lot is playing not only better than the old guard, but also playing, mostly 'proper' cricket even in an ODI. But we should not be over-exuberant, for the following reasons.

Both teams choked, at different phases in their respective innings. The one who choked less won.

S A was not at full strength. Steyn's absence & Morkel's pulling out were crucial.

A few fielding lapses and a stumping miss also cost the Saffas.

So, be on the guard, throughout this short "sudden-death" type of a tournament

MySayOnThIs
on June 7, 2013, 0:51 GMT

@TheBigBoodha .. u been comparing the averages of indian and sa bowlers..
but bare in mind the pitches what these bowlers bowled before considering the average...indians had most bowling on flat ptiches and SA mostly on swinging ,bowler friendly pitches... now whos the best????

Thyagu5432
on June 7, 2013, 0:51 GMT

330+ was always going to be a challenge for the chasing team. To keep a brisk run rate right through the innings means you have to take risk and to make matters worse, our spinners made things absolutely difficult for them to maintain that rate. Ashwin came on to bowl when SA was going

jmcilhinney
on June 6, 2013, 23:48 GMT

As an England fan, I look at SA scoring 305 and losing and I think that England are going to have to bowl really well to win this tournament or else change their attitude to scoring rates early in their innings. I don't see the latter happening at this late stage so I'm really hoping for the former.

Divinetouch
on June 6, 2013, 22:04 GMT

The biggest laughs are those who opine that if this or that did or did not happen the result would have been different.

For example Getsetgopak talking about the run outs let the person be reminded that run outs are part of the game. Are the fielder not suppose to run batsmen out.

For sarcasm sake if Dhoni was not caught when he did India's might have scored another 40 to 50 runs.

Wifi2013
on June 6, 2013, 21:51 GMT

Well today our batting was good our fielding brilliant and bowling was okay. So just a few things to work but all in all a fantastic game to watch and a great spectrum for One Day Cricket. Thank you India and South Africa for great game. Go India Go.

Newlandsfaithful
on June 6, 2013, 21:23 GMT

No surprises here actually. Generally speaking, SA can't bat against spin bowling - even India's part timers were too difficult to face. If I was an opposition captain I wouldn't even bother with a pace attack against SA. Even let my granny have a bowl (as long as its spin).

on June 6, 2013, 21:06 GMT

Short balls are not the ones which caused problem to Team India but they are the ones which helped India to score big, I like it

on June 6, 2013, 21:00 GMT

Rohit scored his 65 runs against SA..the main reason behind the success was, inside his blue jersey he was wearing Mumbai Indian IPL jersey..crincinfo please publish..:)

JG2704
on June 6, 2013, 20:58 GMT

Has to be said (despite some of the anti comms we've had on our threads) India look awesome with the bat.
Every batsman looks capable of scoring big runs and at a high SR and while the pace bowlers are a little inconsistent the team are compensated by part timers ability to do as good a job.
Personally I could see India winning this as they have an exciting side and know how to win big tournaments.
Against them winning , I have often noticed that teams who fly out of the blocks at the start of a tournament don't go on to win it , but a superb batting performance today.
Also well played to SA for making a fight of it

Zetta
on June 6, 2013, 20:55 GMT

It was a good match and I've enjoyed it a lot. Jadeja should have been the man of the match tho ~~

SaadRocx
on June 6, 2013, 20:47 GMT

We sub-continent teams should stop fighting with each other and should support each other,s teams,although im a pak fan,but wouldnt mind any of asian teams (Pak,India,Srilanka) to take the cup!!!the cup should come back to Asia/Subcontinent...as far as today,s match is concerned i think India played beautifully and was eye catching seeing them bat and field...i think pak players should learn how to run b/w the wickets from indian batsmen...!!! anyways goodluck to all 3 asian teams...!!

on June 6, 2013, 20:31 GMT

A good win for India. But on the flip side, they have to seriously think about Ishant and Umesh's bowling. Umesh was slightly better than Ishant. Ishant should start to learn from his teammate like Bhuvaneshwar Kumar. It was also surprising that Dhoni went on with Ishant even if he was smashed for boundaries. Ishant kept bowling without much variations. I think he definitely needs a haircut. Indian Batting was awesome inspite of some hiccups in between and there was never a doubt about their batting though. Its just the start of the tournament and there is so much of expectation from this Indian team because they are such a strong team. I wish they will win this CT2013.

on June 6, 2013, 20:16 GMT

Steyn injured and now morkel may be gone, saf's chance is very slim now. tsotsobe and kleinveldt are looking pathetic, they dont have enough pace yet they are trying to ball to many short balls only to be getting pulled. I wonder why they dont bring philandar in the squad, he is in dream form and can be very handy in english condition. Also i dont think ingram is a genuine opener, he should play in middle order.

mukesh_LOVE.cricket
on June 6, 2013, 20:13 GMT

This match just confirmed what i always believed , that Rohit sharma should open the innings in ODI and bat at number 4 in tests , good performance by India our batsmen are match winners for us , also where is the great fast bowling depth and talent of SA now ? i have always thought they are too dependent on steyn and now that he is gone they got exposed.( agreed morne morkel bowled beautifully today but its Australia who have the best fast bowling talent at the moment. )

ProdigyA
on June 6, 2013, 20:12 GMT

@Harmony111 - I agree about ur comment on Ishant. He just keeps bowling like a robot without using his head. Hope he learns from the last over from Bhuvi.

RAJATH_1294
on June 6, 2013, 20:12 GMT

While India indeed deserve to celebrate, they must address their bowling queries for the next two games. In any case, it really is extraordinary how people can so easily change their opinions of cricketers just over a period of one day. Just yesterday, Rohit Sharma was considered a flat track bully and a liability to the team, and today, just on the basis of one innings, which I admit was very good in these conditions, he is being hailed as the next big thing.
If I have learnt one thing from watching or playing sport, it is this: Always focus on the present. Rohit Sharma played fantastically today. Persist with him for a reasonable amount of time. However, do not hesitate for one second to drop him from the side if he does not continue to play consistently. But, do not ignore him completely! Take him back again if he follows up with a good domestic season. This policy should apply to all players-not just Rohit Sharma.

Jadejafan
on June 6, 2013, 20:05 GMT

Our team is on a role woohooo!!!

gauravm5
on June 6, 2013, 20:02 GMT

@siri12345: A line for u :: luck only favors the BRAVE i.e BRAVE INDIAN PLAYERS

mukesh_LOVE.cricket
on June 6, 2013, 20:01 GMT

The biggest surprise in this tournament are the pitches , if i was an English fan i would be really disappointed because these are the best possible conditions that Asian teams can hope to get in England , great batting wickets with no grass , little or no swing in air , ball coming on to the bat beautifully , spinners more effective than fast bowlers.... India and Pakistan are the firm favorites

Jda123
on June 6, 2013, 19:58 GMT

As I said... Without Steyn SA would lose around the margin of 30-40 runs and I was correct...

I believe this is the end of the road in tournament for SA, without Steyn they are out of this and if Morkel in injured that just puts the nail in the coffin.

India played great, I see them going 3-0 in the group stages and be at the top.

Pakistan vs WI will be interesting tomorrow.

on June 6, 2013, 19:57 GMT

This was against a quarter strength South African attack. No Steyn, no Kallis, and no Philander. I am more than aware that you can only beat the side in front of you, but I just felt rather let down by the whole affair.

TSJ07
on June 6, 2013, 19:53 GMT

@NP_NY on (June 6, 2013, 19:06 GMT)-----And I'm a big fan of Miller (Go KXIP!!). I thought I would see his attractive 50 and then he would get out to hand Indian a victory of about 30runs. Well he did not even face a ball but luckily it was good for India otherwise he alone would have taken away the match from India.
BTW it was such a batting beauty he pitch was in SA innings that even after losing 6 wickets, both Mclaren and Faf could have won this match for their team had they batted cautiously initially and then opened up in the last 8-9 overs.They went berserk and Faf lost his wickets and SA the match. This is where India is good while chasing, they never loose the focus and open up in the last few overs.
BTW good luck to PAK team for 2mrrow match.

parikshit_Ops
on June 6, 2013, 19:45 GMT

For those saying India Was fortunate Since Kallis, Smith not playing, I believe Smith has deliberately decided to curtail his ODI career to enhance his ODI career. For Kallis and all his centuries, they came at quite a slow pace, most of the time he gets to big score with other wickets falling in 2nd Innings, he makes sure that SA loses the match. It is blessing that Kallis din't play for SA.Otherwise SA would've lost by a bigger margin with wickets in hand. Hope Kallis comes to SA side to play against India in future and increases our winning chances. For SA, I dont understand what crap is this ODI player tag, Philanderer is really good irrespective of format

Pah, that was atruly bad display of Indian prowess,had Morne being a bit more fir to bat,the results would have been different. If anybody saw it properly, Ryan was holding onto the strikers end without taking the twos cause of morne.And how many bowls did he eat up in the process, at 8 to 10 balls consider the twos and Indian team win looks improbable.Great teams do not need luck to be greaat.If the team learns from this thenmaybe something better can be achieved. Then again we have full business men on the Board if a former fast bowler like say Kapil Dev is on Board and is given powers then maybe the dusty bowls of India can churn out better bowlers.

on June 6, 2013, 19:40 GMT

If anyone hast noticed S.Africa has never been actually deserved number one team in one day international...thwy have always been second or third best in icc odi rankings n never won a worldcup...so i wouldnt have been surprised if all their players would be fit and they still didnt qualify for the semis...it just how SA

on June 6, 2013, 19:37 GMT

as a PAKISTANi..we support asians teams india,srilanka,bangladesh and afhanistan aswell.and plz other asians support each other..give credit where its due.just chill and enjoy cricket..ppl in pakistan want india to win...i personally think SA bowling attack is overrated in this tournament and now even they dont have steyn and morkel...where is so called world best bowler PHILANDER.?..he is only good in sa and on specific pithches..if he is really a world class bowler he should b here and play for his country..ishant sharma and kumar r better than philander.to b realistic PAKISTAN got best bowling attack overall as compare to all other teams and india got best batting attack....lets c how many sixes chris gayle and pollard hits tommorow...they have to face decent bowlers...chris gayle has to show his class tomorrow..i like his batting so much...let c...and for gamblers put ur chips on pakistan tomorrow and make some money....lolzz also put some...hahhahaha...

on June 6, 2013, 19:36 GMT

A side lacked by quality of pacers, a younger team under the captaincy of Ab de Villiers, lacked by their most brilliant captain and opener Grame Smith...These are the facts which enforce me to cheers for S.A, and they deserved it..With a flat wicket,chasing a total of 300+ and successfully managed to reach 305 runs in such conditions is something we all should appreciate..For India, there are certain concers..Yadav looks in good touch but Ishant and Bhuvneshar looks cheeky and believe me, bhuvneshwar's capability is to swing the ball only in his first 5 over spell...Laterly he gets rusty and get thrashed by other batsmen..Ishant, i dont know what have happened to his line and length..where is his "pace" so indian bowling is still a big concern..if S.A didnt "throw" their wickets..then the result would have been different...anyway, well played India & well played S.A..it was a good game to watch..

Shan156
on June 6, 2013, 19:36 GMT

@Harmony111, Ishant is no different than Dernbach, probably worse. At least, Dernbach does not play tests. I am surprised why India continue to persist with him. Stats may not always reflect a player's class but in Ishant's case, it does. India seem to have a lot of good, though raw, bowlers. Why not try them instead of giving continuous chances to the inconsistent Ishant?

jb633
on June 6, 2013, 19:34 GMT

Having had slanging matches with some Indian fans before I am going to comment neutrally from now on. India's batting was top class and they punished a very average attack. It must be said that the two opener's did brilliantly to weather the early storm and they punished anything loose. I am glad now that I backed India at 10/1 at the start of this tournament. With this decent weather and dry pitches there isn't really a more dangerous ODI side around. We (eng), SA and Aus all look very average and I expect IND or Pakistan to go all the way this time.
Well played to India a very impressive display, from a worried England fan.

Kush58
on June 6, 2013, 19:33 GMT

Here is where SA lost the match.(from a SA perspective)
1. Shikhar Dhawan should have been caught. Twice. Both occasions the ball went over deep square leg's head and bounced well short of the rope. If the fielders had been right on the boundary, two easy catches.
2. Morkel's injury. If Morkel had bowled his full quota, I would have thought he'd bowl better than the rubbish Kleindvelt and Lopsy bowled at the end. Also SA did not run about 15 runs because Morkel could not run when he was batting.
3. Faf du Plessis. Ran out Miller and played a useless shot when there were more than 10 overs remaining. I know it was the powerplays but he and Mclaren were the last of the true batsmen left. He knew Morne was injured. The asking rate wasn't terrible. No need for that. In all my years of supporting South Africa, I have never been so angry at a player more than du Plessis. He has never won a game for SA let alone perform well from tight situations. Massive underachiever.

Shan156
on June 6, 2013, 19:33 GMT

Well played India. Started with a bang. Dhawan impressed in his debut test earlier this year. Now, he has proved that he can play in different conditions. Of course, it is still early years but I think he will go on to become a very valuable player for India in the long term at least in the short forms of the game. India look favorites at the moment but their bowling still needs to get better. SA lost the match when ABDV was dismissed. McLaren just got lucky. SA's bowling looks very ordinary, a complete contrast to their classy test attack.

rezawazir
on June 6, 2013, 19:22 GMT

good performance by indian players... especialy Dhawan... but i personaly think that indian bowling attack is weak they havenot good wicket taker fast bowler in this squad.. spinnig deparment is much better...
india totall depends on their batsmen in ths tournament as usual...

on June 6, 2013, 19:18 GMT

for those who are saying that even in steyn being present would not have mattered are really playing dumb,take away dhoni out of the starting eleven and the fear factor from opposition sides diminishes ;as for those who are saying we dont have quality on the bench speak out of ignorance because we got plenty of quality young quicks just that our selectors keep persisting with this mediocrisy of selecting the likes of kleinvelt

philipsmgp
on June 6, 2013, 19:13 GMT

Lot of ifs and buts here.If AB would not have got out,if FAF would not have got out,if miller would not have got out,If steyn,kallis and smith would have playing SA would have won.come on.What sense does it make.Then the same could be said here if Dhawan would not have got out,If dhoni would not have got out,if raina would not have got out,if kohli would not have got out,if dinesh would not have got out the score would have reached the excess of 380.And if sehwag played,If gambhir played,if yuvraj played,if sachin played the score would have been more tha 400.If zaheer played SA score would have been less than 250.AGREE.Stop this childish comment the unpredictablity is what the glory of game cricket. enjoy it.

getsetgopk
on June 6, 2013, 19:12 GMT

Just to clear out some myths about SA. They aren't the greatest ODI they once were with Kallis, Gibbs, Pollock, Klusner and so, still a decent enough side but not up to scratch if you ask me. Even more so, their bowling isn't that great either. Steyn and Morkel are being touted as the worlds best pace bowlers, pardon me but thats in test cricket, not in ODI's. Remember they got beaten by NZ at home, Pak won 2 games against them and looked fairly miserable in that warm up game against Pak. So there you have it, just another decent enough side. Lost the game by 25 runs, if not for those run out they could've come out of this as victors so a bit lucky for India too.

Robster1
on June 6, 2013, 19:10 GMT

Wondering how much more SA fans have to put up with Kleinveldt being in the team. He's simply not international standard.

Nampally
on June 6, 2013, 19:10 GMT

@siri12345: Sorry to bother you with one more comment. You said the 2 teams who played today (India & SA) were probably fighting for the 3rd spot in their group. Did you mean to say FIRST spot? Also you say the 4 teams in the other group which you call stronger, are all good enough to qualify. Firstly, India has already beaten SL & Australia in their friendly match with the Aussies being skittled for 65- TOTAL. SL was beaten by India, with 2 overs to spare ! So your prediction defies the actual playing record. I still think, India & SA will qualify from this group. England & SL will qualify from the other "Stronger" group!. Don't forget that India is the current World ODI champions. Despite what You or the Cricket Fans say, India is fighting for its Pride & to retain its world crown. Lets us give the World ODI Champions the respect they deserve - Eh?.

Harmony111
on June 6, 2013, 19:07 GMT

With the new rules of having 2 new balls, the new field restrictions and with the impact T20 is having on ODIs, I think it is fair to say that on most occasions, 350 is the new 300. You still need to bat well and have partnerships and someone has to score a big one usually but on most occasions, teams today can no longer feel secure after scoring 350.

I wasn't entirely sure of India's win after the 1st innings cos all SA needed was one big partnership and then letting others to build on it. SA did the first thing but lost too many wickets. They might have done it had Miller played 12-15 balls or ABD stayed a bit longer.

From Ind's PoV, they had sealed it when SA lost Faf. Afterwards it was a case of SA ameliorating the loss.

Still, as an Ind fan, I am not too happy with this win. We ought to have won with a bigger margin & must not have let SA score at such fast RR. We've won 3 in 3 but given 300+ in 2 of them.

Ishant's time is up. Been sown too long yet no yield (save 5 kg hair).

@Sinako Ntlebi: Don't worry Sinako, SA will be back with a bang. I am a big fan of AB (Go RCB!), Faf, Miller, Steyn, Amla, etc. when they are not playing against India :) And you are right, the commentators need to exercise some neutrality in the commentary box. I just try to tune them out and watch the cricket :).

shakalaka
on June 6, 2013, 19:04 GMT

Right Zohaib Munir, I think we Indians and Pakistanis have always been mutually admiring each others batting. In fact, the players from the subcontinent are often very attractive. Look at Azharuddin, Zaheer Abbas, VVS Laxman, Gundappa Vishwanath, Mohsin Khan, Inzamam Ul Haq, Rameez Raja, Rohit sharma - all so graceful. Well i too am looking forward to the Ind-Pak match. Let the best team win.

DaveUSA
on June 6, 2013, 19:03 GMT

Let me get this right. If some of the posters are to be believed, it was pure luck that India won this match. Here's why:
1. After centuries of lively pitches, the curators suddenly decided to make a dead track just to give India an advantage, and quickly changed it to a lively one right before SA innings
2. When SA won the toss, they politely asked India to bat first because they are such nice guys!
3. SA's best bowlers were injured before and during the game, so they were only playing schoolboys, humoring the pathetic India baby team
4. India did not play fair by actually fielding well - they were all supposed to be loitering Gangulys
5. SA players were so mesmerized by Dhawan's and Jadeja's mustaches that they frequently stopped to admire those and forgot how to run between wickets
6. Gary K was suddenly granted Indian citizenship and coached SA team to lose
7. Entire SA team was seceretly working for Sreesanth
8. ICC's new rules did not help pace bowlers enough!

sachinisawesome
on June 6, 2013, 19:03 GMT

@ siri12345 and baseball sucks look at you people cry. It gives me peace. And next game when u play against NZ and will ofcourse loose coz apparently NZ will be lucky that day. I will be even more peaceful. Only if you could use your energy to support your team rather than demeaning our team your team could shed the tag of minnows. But I know it will not happen. Plz take my advise and start working on the excuses that u will give on the day when u will lose the game against NZ. Cricinfo plz publish.

aby__prasad
on June 6, 2013, 19:02 GMT

Yup like I said in the beginning, s.a. gave too many short pitched balls. Good win by India though the last wicket pair adding 50 runs doesnt augur well with the way indian bowlers finishing off the tail. Still waiting for the real test with traditional english swinging conditions. To other good friends, please dont respond to dirty comments. They are either kids or adults with scum in their head and the more we respond they can take more of where it came from. Remember they have tonnes of it in them and it never gets exhausted. See the number of times they write what they write and u would get a picture of what im talking about.Lets talk pure cricket meanwhile ;)

NP_NY
on June 6, 2013, 19:02 GMT

@Zohaib Munir: Thanks Zohaib! This is what I call real class - congratulating India when India wins although India and Pakistan are arch-rivals in cricket. I hope the SL fans like baseball-sucks and siri12345 can learn something from you, but I doubt they will. They are too busy crying over spilt milk :)

kc69
on June 6, 2013, 19:01 GMT

This match clearly showed what good fielding and variety in bowling can do. The pitch was a batsmen's paradise where only quality fielding and clever bowling would help and it just did that. Thanks to MSD for his innovation(which we often criticize).25 overs from spinners with just 114 runs conceded puts a lot of pressure on SA to get 218 runs from 25 overs left for pace bowlers. Hope India keeps this momentum and MSD can add one more trophy into his achievements as team India captain.

on June 6, 2013, 19:01 GMT

Jadeja should have been the Man of the Match. Dhawan was exceptional, but it was Jadeja who scored speedy 47 first, then turned the direction of the match with a superb run out and finally took wickets and bowled economically. India as a team looks great. We no longer have to lament - "india in trouble as Sachin is out"!!

on June 6, 2013, 19:00 GMT

baseball-sucks! so u say its a flat track when india score more than 300! ok now if indian pace attack could take 2 early wickets when it was sunny on a flat deck why cant the south african pace attack! perhaps the best in the world do i twhen it was overcast ? jus shows ur prejudice and lack of cricketing sense ! if a team plays well give em credit!

on June 6, 2013, 18:59 GMT

@ Naresh28 - If you knew anything about cricket, you would not have asked that question. Let me start with a few pointers - Pitches, Ball (White Kookaboora vs Dukes), Field Settings and Restrictions, and finally the personnel.

on June 6, 2013, 18:59 GMT

@Nampally, India did not win by luck. SA lost wickets in chunk due to the score board pressure and India was applying the pressure with the spinners. Just imagine Kohli in place of ABD and Dhoni in place of Faf facing a bowling attack like India, Kohli and Dhoni would have chased the score easily.

TSJ07
on June 6, 2013, 18:56 GMT

Paul Rone-Clarke on (June 6, 2013, 18:24 GMT) AND sdpervez on (June 6, 2013, 18:25 GMT)------------Thanks brothers.....I hope other non-Indian writers here are as sensible and have neutral & honest opinion as you have written.

cricket_india20
on June 6, 2013, 18:54 GMT

@siri12345 You mad bro? A win is a win. Probably your bench strength needs to be much stronger. May be look into that?

gsingh7
on June 6, 2013, 18:54 GMT

well done india the world champions are ready to dominate for atleast 4 or 5 decades very good young crop of talented players who can do anything now. win ct2013 and bring home the cup and glory

on June 6, 2013, 18:52 GMT

@siri1234 it seems like you do not know the definition of the word 'luck' so i will tell you
'The chance happening of fortunate or adverse events; fortune' is the definition of Luck
Your Welcome

Herath-UK
on June 6, 2013, 18:52 GMT

India should be congratulated for the win whatever way it came.
The other team needing good luck is Sri Lanka as suddenly NZ turned out to be in very good nick having the advantage of playing in Eng for sometime now.
Ranil Herath - Kent

on June 6, 2013, 18:51 GMT

as a saffer i would like to congratulate india and its fans for their victory against us,must also point out that the commentry from sourav gagunly very one sides poor pommie sounded bored as well with him; and u all can ridiculate sa bowling it merits it today

Ra_Thore
on June 6, 2013, 18:51 GMT

Lot of the comments here are third-grade when mentioning Dale Steyn absence and Morkel's incomplete spell. Dale Steyn would not have helped succeed SA since Indian batsmen were capable hitting short balls today. It was the SPIN bowling that had better econ rate. Lot of the runs made today were on short balls, most I have ever seen by the Indian team. This group is fun. Pak's win against WI and loss against SA will make things interesting. No team will win all three matches in this group. India will lose to either Pak or WI. There will be no deciders till the very last game - Ind vs Pak.

rohan8579
on June 6, 2013, 18:49 GMT

@Basketball Sucks....I hope you know you are most consistent guy from SL...no matter what your view on Indian team is never changed...whenever there is any CRICKET going on...I am sure 99% ppl here must be looking for your comment to see whether you have changed your view or not...coming back to the match between Ind vs SA...what an amazing match...first Rohit & Dhawan batted superbly (with our without Steyn, SA fast bowling dept is one of the best in tournament)...with 210 odd runs in 35 overs, India should have scored 350+ but then SA did great job to stop Indians on "PAR" score...Dhoni & ABD both thought so..what says that Indian bowlers didnt do that bad to restrict SA on UNDER "PAR" score...lil bit of improvement from Ishant & Yadav in rest of the tournament with current form of batters ...confirms the trophy! Awesome Team India....way to go... Basketball suck...next time copy your comment to paste on next article... ;-)

TNAmarkFromIndia
on June 6, 2013, 18:49 GMT

Funny how some people think this was a lucky win. Truth is South Africa were out of the contest a long time before they officially lost the game. Ryan McLaren's 71 only got the margin closer than it deserved to be. The entire bulk of their batting with the exception of De Villiers and Peterson failed. South Africa were outplayed in every department. I understand that some people are beginning to realise that India is the dominant favorite in this tournament now and they're beginning to feel envious of it.

philipsmgp
on June 6, 2013, 18:49 GMT

Mr.Jadejafan i completely accept with you. too much off chopping and changing is ruining one day cricket. even i feel the old rules were better where the batsmen were given advantage in the first 15 overs.But now it has changed completly in to a batsmen game.Two new balls presence means the spinner would not have the older ball in his hand to show his skill,there wont be any reverse swing and only four fielders outside the circle.Man too bad.Just by giving the bowlers to bowl 2 bouncers is not going to make it even.Make the rules to support bowlers and let batsmen show their quality.Why should they always enjoy the rules?????

Harmony111
on June 6, 2013, 18:48 GMT

With the new rules of having 2 new balls, the new field restrictions and with the impact T20 is having on ODIs, I think it is fair to say that on most occasions, 350 is the new 300. You still need to bat well and have partnerships and someone has to score a big one usually but on most occasions, teams today can no longer feel secure after scoring 350.

I wasn't entirely sure of India's win after the 1st innings cos all SA needed was one big partnership and then letting others to build on it. SA did the first thing but lost too many wickets. They might have done it had Miller played 12-15 balls or ABD stayed a bit longer.

From Ind's PoV, they had sealed it when SA lost Faf. Afterwards it was a case of SA ameliorating the loss.

Still, as an Ind fan, I am not too happy with this win. We ought to have won with a bigger margin & must not have let SA score at such fast RR. We've won 3 in 3 but given 300+ in 2 of them.

Ishant's time is up. Been sown too long yet no yield (save 5 kg hair).

snaidu2010
on June 6, 2013, 18:40 GMT

Some people here are suggesting that we beat a 2nd string SA team.. hmm so is it our mistake that Steyn, Kallis and Smith didnt play. What do we do, forfeit the match coz SA are not playing all their main players. Haters just need some reason to play down the victory today. Yes we need to improve but this was a very good victory.

on June 6, 2013, 18:39 GMT

PAKISTANI FAN,,,,congrat indian fans...i always like ur batting...probably the best in world right now...hope to see a more interesting matches in future...indian bowlers specially spinners are doing good job here...pakistan vs india will b the match to watch..good luck to india for rest of the ct..lets c what how will pakistan perform tomorrow...i think pakitan and india from group b will qualify for semis.

Cpt.Meanster
on June 6, 2013, 18:38 GMT

@YJ Monoo: Steyn who ? What can ONE man do to an entire team ? The last time I checked, cricket is a 'team' game ! Steyn or not, India would have won if they had played the same way. Cricket is not decided by one man. Sure, Steyn would have brought experience and ferocity, but he alone cannot stop SA from 'choking'. Get my point ?

maddy20
on June 6, 2013, 18:38 GMT

The flattening of the wicket was due to the sun shining bright. Remember that the ball swings prodigiously on English wickets only under overcast conditions. They did get some movement early on, but were unable to cash in. BK and Umesh struck early in the SA innings to ensure that they don't get the kind of start India managed to get. Worst of all, they were bowling like robots programmed to bowl short regardless of the batsmens' response. Dhawan, Kohli, Dhoni and to some extent Rohit Sharma are excellent at playing the hook and pull. They should have realised that and bowled slightly back of a length which seemed to be the ideal length on this wicket.

Raginggbull
on June 6, 2013, 18:37 GMT

@Nampally: India is NOT lucky here, it keep his nerves better than SA. Faf throwed his wicket and he's like a falling wicket during Powerplay. Please give credit to India where its due.

pull_shot
on June 6, 2013, 18:35 GMT

Terrific win for India though they were lucky that SA dont have kallis,steyn.Reason for SA lose is aggression from indian batsman + plan of bouncing out indian batsman does work. They should have try odd short delivery with fuller length. Some of the comments by srilankans doesnt make sense India chased 333 they say its fluke and now SA fall apart in big chase that too against indian bowling. Chasing runs is difficult that too 300+ is always difficult so give indian batsmen their credit

Natesan333
on June 6, 2013, 18:32 GMT

Some of the negative comments here shows the greatness of the Indian team. They are talking about whether the victory is big or small. I am afraid that is all they can talk about, not whether we win or lose, but whether we win big or small :p

Cpt.Meanster
on June 6, 2013, 18:31 GMT

@siri12345: I won't say anything now. But I will be watching your team SL like a hawk. An average team without any quality bowlers or batsmen (except Sanga and Mahela). It will be interesting to see how such a mediocre team can even compete against England, Australia and an in-form NZ. Yeah right, a group consisting of SA, PAK and WI are weak eh ? Do you even understand the law of probabilities ? Or do you want a math lecture from yours truly ?

on June 6, 2013, 18:30 GMT

DHONI the wily captain won it.If we had Steyn or Morkel fit or Kallis or Smith we would have won it.Well done India.

philipsmgp
on June 6, 2013, 18:30 GMT

I dont think with this bowling line up india would go far.I dont think this pitch was as flat as a sub continent wicket.It was poor bowling from SA and some exceptional batting by the India openers to avoid morkel for the pace and bounce he generated initially.But the thing is in England your fast bowlers were supposed to guide the team where as it was quiet opposite.Spinners were bowling their heart out with not too much support from the pitch. Ishanth sharma i never felt was showing any intent.too bad.And people making mockery of jadeja just understand he is not a superstar he is just a utility player who gives his everything.He does his job coming lower down the order with bat,he does his job with the ball and brilliant fielder ofcourse.

RaviNarla
on June 6, 2013, 18:28 GMT

Overall a good win for India. They excelled in all departments with the exception of costly run rate of pace bowlers. If there is one weak link that needs to be fixed, it would be Irfan coming in place of Ishant. Irfan would add to the batting depth coupled with his swinging skills.GO India!!!

sdpervez
on June 6, 2013, 18:25 GMT

People crediting steyns absense in the game as a reason for loss are in denial, give team India the credit due, they played well and won, today SAF was not the better team.

on June 6, 2013, 18:24 GMT

A side needs bench strength to succeed long term. Without Steyn and with only a 50% burst from Morkel we can see how little bowling bench the Saffers have got. And let's face it - relying on the same two skinny quicks for year after year for your ODI pace injection is bound to end up with tournaments like this. India also had several newish faces. Pace bowlers and batters no one had heard of 18 months ago - and they stood up to the mark and did the job. They beat the opposition that was on the field against them. Well done India

Bye the way, so called 'flat track bullies' bullied the opponent once again and didn't let the opponent to bully them back on the same flat track. Opportunities are equal to both of them, doesn't matter whether it is flat or have grass.

sdpervez
on June 6, 2013, 18:21 GMT

Truly well played India, Even though I am a non India supported but just the way this team bats is exemplary, I am really liking Shikhar Dhawan, he has got this class and timing when he bats, truly deserved win, SAF did not play up to the expectation, I believe India`s bowling attack is the most under rated and thus people seem to count them out but this tournament specially with the new rules this is going to be as open a tournament ever. Anyone can win.

NeelaGopi
on June 6, 2013, 18:21 GMT

its a big win because its a win against mighty-SA (tournament favorites)

its not a win by big margin... its big because of the opponent... and its a crucial one due to the nature of this tournament... no room for errors... I guess that's what author meant...

All the best to India

CoolCharlie
on June 6, 2013, 18:19 GMT

Its pathetic. If India wins then there are always excuses... Pitches were flat, or it was just a practice match so the opposition team decided that they should not win,or had morne morkel bowled 19 deliveries more india would have scored 25 runs less or simply Saffers were unlucky and india just got lucky! Amazing you guys. If Indian pacers were bad , Saffers didnt fared better . Steyn not playing is not Indias' fault and the 11 fielded by SA were there best. No need to add ifs and buts. And its not Indias' fault that pitches are batting friendly . India is a good team. Acknowledge it. Demeaning Indian team will neither make it a bad team nor good. India was a better tean today. There was no luck involved.

NP_NY
on June 6, 2013, 18:16 GMT

@DaveUSA: Well said. It's a case of sour grapes mate. I can almost feel the pain that siri12345 is feeling, after watching this game for 8 hours hoping that India will somehow lose. Must be very disappointingl last three matches for him.

on June 6, 2013, 18:16 GMT

still can't believe we've won this game against mighty south africans.. its a great WONDER. Nice to see young lads performing very well at important matches.. :) i didn't imagined such a batting display from dhawan on this pitch. waarey waah!!!!!! :) superb cameo it was.. unfortunately i missed it... :\

on June 6, 2013, 18:14 GMT

lack of styne give advantage to indian

Harmony111
on June 6, 2013, 18:12 GMT

India won so it feels good but seriously, I am concerned about Ishant's presence in the team now. I am usually in favour of trusting the players and backing them but even when I account for the super flat wicket, the new rules etc I still can't find any major reason for having Ishant in the team. You see, Ishant has the oldest debut among the bowlers we have in CT. Bhuvi is a toddler compared to him, Yadav's coming back from an injury and has not played 20 ODIs yet. At this time Ishant should have been our Strike Bowler, our go-to man. But here we see Bhuvi opening bowling with Yadav. Ishant came in 1st change, bowled 3 rubbish overs and then disappeared till the 36th over.

He can't bat, is a poor fielder, isn't our strike bowler nor economical. What's he doing in the team?

I also have doubts about his IQ. This man can't even keep a #11 crippled batsman quite. Didn't we all see the stupid short ball he bowled to Morkel that went for 4?

Compare what he bowled to Bhuvi's last over.

on June 6, 2013, 18:11 GMT

Many comments here are again going back to support Rohit(in comparison to yesterday) but i can guarantee everyone here ,Rohit is just a flat track bully and just cannot stand up to his so called "class" in bowler friendly pitches...
Good bowling effort from a weak bowling side, i never though after 150 -2 in 25 overs Indian bowler could bring the game back...
It really shows how much top ranking teams(except India) solely depend on their lead bowler SA-Steyn SRI-Malinga ...For India the trio Bhuvi,Yadav and Ishant share responsibility and play real good cricket..Under MSD this team has the chance to win this one .that to comfortably

on June 6, 2013, 18:11 GMT

Well Done India..Shikhar Dhawan man of the match. I also feel Jadeja has done exceptional well. Thanks to dhoni to bring spinner at the right time. All we need to say Its a team effort. Thanks..

Venkat_Gowrishankar
on June 6, 2013, 18:09 GMT

@Jayzuz : To Logically conclude, Australia are so bad that they can't even bat on these dead lifeless tracks?. Wow, you really are honest , true and logical.
@BigBoodha : Say what you want, Australia bowled out for 65 on the same flattest of flat track. So bad is australia!

on June 6, 2013, 18:06 GMT

@ siri12345 tsobe or whatever his name his he is the best odi bowler who got hammered enough with the excuses...

TSJ07
on June 6, 2013, 18:05 GMT

Good win for India considering SA got to bat on a wicket later that kept on getting better as the day progressed.India batted when pitch still had some life and conditions were overcast especially during 1st 10 overs. Indian openers gave some respect to bowlers and conditions and burst when they got used to the the pace and conditions. Lot of cricket fans from other countries may still ridicule this Indian win blaming luck or pitch for Indian win but we Indian should really be happy with this win especially the way cricketing matters have panned out in the last month or so.

siri12345
on June 6, 2013, 18:04 GMT

@cpt...meanster do u know the group which india is in is the weaker group of the two.the other groups actually have 4 favourites who can win the cup.and among the weaker group these two teams of todays game were perhaps fighting for the 3rd spot in the group.the fact that india couldnot even bit a steynless and halfmorneless sa team convincingly just shows how favourite they are.but u guys may dream because dream doesnot cost u money lol cricinfo ........publish.

on June 6, 2013, 18:04 GMT

and they said only indians get out to short balls....the rank 1 odi batsmen fell for a short bowl and number one odi bowler got hammered in all directions...its time people stop saying indians cant play short ball...we have mastered the art to play short balls recently...anyone agreeing with me...today raina got out but that was unlucky for him...but raina is the one who has learned to play short balls more than anyone else...

IPSY
on June 6, 2013, 18:03 GMT

Congratulations India! As I have been saying for ages, India has talent. However, for whatever reason, the authorities have been stifling this plethora of very rich young talent for the sake of overrated have beens. It is great to see once again, that these really talented youths are left on their own, under an outstanding young Captain Dhoni, to prove to the world that India can do without overrated have-beens! As for South Afica, their selectors are a bunch of jokers. how could any country in the world, having the GIFT of a player of the calibre of Vernon Philander leave him out of any important match in cricket, in any format? Much worse, he is not even in the South African team! WHAT NONSENSE! Vernon Philander has proven over and over that he is currently "the best bowler in the world"!

Stat1977
on June 6, 2013, 18:03 GMT

Would anyone let me know how 26 run marginal win could be a " Big Win" lol..It was SA's game, had not AB And Miller thrown thier wickets.SA unfortunately choke in big games as usual.lets see India could do the same with a team who has quality attack..

on June 6, 2013, 18:03 GMT

@siri12345

Indeed we were very lucky. Perhaps the next time Sri Lanka will beat us will be when atleast 5 of our players get injured during the same match. That will indeed be a hard fought victory for Sri Lanka.

NP_NY
on June 6, 2013, 18:02 GMT

@Jayzuz: For someone who doesn't care less about what happens to this match, you do post a lot of comments :). Getting to the conditions, the pitch alone doesn't make the "conditions". There is the weather, playing in a foreign country, etc.. If Cardiff is such a batting track, how did India bowl Aus for 65 in the practice match? It doesn't matter what kind of pitch the teams play on. Execution is the key and India is winning. And let's face it, it's a batsman's game. Deal with it!

kumarcoolbuddy
on June 6, 2013, 18:02 GMT

@siri12345, probably SA was unlucky because some big names like Dale Steyn are missing today. But I don't agree with Morne Morkel's injury anything to do with India's victory. Why don't you consider winning the toss for SA then? Also you are talking about "25 runs short" after the match. Game approach always depends on the target. So if India had scored something between 300-310 then the approach would have been different from both the teams.

Amsyrocker
on June 6, 2013, 18:01 GMT

@Haleos - See the other side of team, batting is supreme, and your so called best bowling's batting is a utter joke.. and BTW if worst bowling takes 10 wickets in last two matches and previously held T20 (including your best bowling's batting line up), imagine what to called those batsmen who get out ??? Pathetic, abysmal, or what ? So think before you write...

on June 6, 2013, 18:01 GMT

Sir Jaddu today :

Least economy rate by any bowler in the match...

Highest strike-rate by any batsman in the match...

Also by far the only bowler to bowl a maiden over (Jaddu doesn't fancy just a maiden over,his over was a wicket maiden)...

He has now become the must vital player of team india,when u need to break partnership just call him he will do for u MSD.

JaDeD_INDIAN
on June 6, 2013, 18:01 GMT

I'm an Indian and even i feel sometimes cricinfo overdoes it a bit - "Big win" ? totally wrong.Anyhow its good to know we have won . I'm sure its a sad day for Sri Lankans.

roook
on June 6, 2013, 18:00 GMT

Good Fight from SA but poor bowling from SA standard missing Steyn and losing morkel at wrong time.

Cpt.Meanster
on June 6, 2013, 17:59 GMT

@jackthelad: WHO CARES ? A win is a win. As an Indian fan, it feels SO SO good.

Amsyrocker
on June 6, 2013, 17:56 GMT

@siri12345 : This could have happened, that could have happened, India crush SA and the win was comprehensive. Last partnership makes it look like a decent loss which could have been huge for S.A., and who knows Morkel could have been smashed all over the park in the death (that's the other way possibility as well) just forget about Morkel winning match with bat, he wasn't no 11 he had any talent like that. So face the fact and give credit to the team which has won rather than crying for luck factor and other excuses...

on June 6, 2013, 17:56 GMT

Indias bowling looked very weak had it not been the run out of miller without facing a ball the match would have been very tight as the india fast bowlers went more or less 8 runs per over. The reason why india have won or keep winning is the batsmen give them such big totals that even if the bowling is hit around the park they still have enough runs to play with will be very interesting to see how well they do against WI who got some big hitters.

DaveUSA
on June 6, 2013, 17:55 GMT

@siri12345: Really? Was it luck that Indian bowlers (supposedly not-so-great) were able to take 10 SA wickets? Was it luck that SA batters couldn't run between wickets? Was it luck that SA won the toss and chose to field? As long as we're just doing wishful thinking, why don't we just wish that Steyn was also fit, and Kallis was back and in form, and India had only out-of-form players, and pigs could fly...!

NP_NY
on June 6, 2013, 17:55 GMT

@TheBigBoodha: 308 versus 65 all out. How is that a "decent" game. It is a thrashing. Individual averages don't matter if a team doesn't win games. And as a team this India team finds ways to win more often than not. That's all that matters!

letsgoproteas
on June 6, 2013, 17:52 GMT

How can you persistently bowl short like that and not expect to get smacked around. Terrible from SA.

And with the batting - I blame our loss on our two most important leaders - AB and FAF. They threw their wickets away at the wrong time. And that Miller run out is unforgivable.

Speng
on June 6, 2013, 17:51 GMT

If the pitches continue to be run factories like this one was then winning the toss and putting the other team into bat won't be the automatic choice. SA lost due to poor bowling and scoreboard pressure. The reason the Saffers are so poor in ODI relative to tests is that their ODI "specialists" especially the bowlers just aren't that good plus they have no spinners worthy of the name. If you added Smith, Philander, Kallis (even to bat only) they would be a much better team. Also Amla is on a pretty lean streak of form by his high standards. If he starts to fire the way he can the team will be a lot more difficult to beat.

on June 6, 2013, 17:49 GMT

@Siri12345- I knew many people will come out like you and start commenting.. Morne would have gone for runs like anyone else, had he bowled towards the end. Did you see the run rate of other SA bowlers. They were worser than our under rated Indian bowlers. India played better cricket throughout the match. Morne has gone for many runs like any of our bowlers in IPL. No big deal with him.

NP_NY
on June 6, 2013, 17:49 GMT

The anti-India fans called India a mediocre team, club team, etc. said they cannot win outside India, called India's bowling attack the weakest and on and on. Three matches done (yes, I am counting the practice matches, because no one plays to lose) and India has beaten SL (this has just become a formality now), thrashed Aus, and has beaten SA quite comfortably as well. The critics can keep finding faults with the Indian team, but we Indian fans don't care because the results speak for themselves. Go India!

rsnl
on June 6, 2013, 17:48 GMT

@siri12345: You made me laugh buddy. You comments clearly showing your frustration because of India win again SA. Had blah blah happened and India would have lost the game.....had that is happened and India would have lost the game....these are the pity excuses and always make me laugh.

Temuzin
on June 6, 2013, 17:48 GMT

The number one rule for calling a track as flat track is: if India wins its flat track, If india loses then the same track will become great pitch, therefore Cardiff was a pathetic flat track laid out by ECB to help Indians ha ha ha ha, where is Baseball Sucks? We need his input.

WonkyBail
on June 6, 2013, 17:47 GMT

Fielding and energy of the Indian fielders has improved so much with new young blood. Very good win although SA did seem to help with their half baked running when in a good position although that is probably down to score board pressure. If the weather stays good Asian teams will do well, if cloud comes in then things may change- all in all an entertaining opener.

siri12345
on June 6, 2013, 17:47 GMT

lol.....best bowler of the world dale steyn not playing.another great bowler morne morkel got injured and couldnot bowl during the crucial death overs and was not allowed a runner while batting through injury due to stupid rules ,2 silliest of run outs.after being this lucky throughout the day a team barely manages to win by 26 runs and people here r claiming this win as big ??????huh........

Cpt.Meanster
on June 6, 2013, 17:43 GMT

Congratulations on a splendid win INDIA. A lot of ridiculous comments here talking about how SA were let down by their bowling and all that. Who CARES ? India were the better team and they deserved to win. I hope some people will FINALLY admit India are definitely in this tournament as one of the 'favourites' to win it. Unlike England, Australia, and SA who are considered 'favourites' simply because of the conditions favouring them. Cricket is played between 22 men. Today, India were SUPERB in all departments; more so the batting and fielding. I have always said India have the BEST batting in the world ! Even with this slightly lean bowling attack, India make teams sweat. I am proud of my team's performance and I am sure this is the first of many more wins in this competition. COME ON INDIA !!!

on June 6, 2013, 17:42 GMT

India were the Old SA and SA were the old Indian team today. Strange to see so many lapses by SA in field.... and indians were simply brilliant....

I have a distinct memory- There was a terminology in Cricket called "Yorker" is nt it?

jackthelad
on June 6, 2013, 17:42 GMT

Hang on - let's not go overboard here; it was a good win, and after that opening partnership, India never looked in any danger - but to call a win by 26 runs 'a big win' seems to be overstating things a tad.

on June 6, 2013, 17:40 GMT

Today I am feeling very much lucky as I was vitnessed Indian innings from first ball. After long long time perhaps after the era of Vivian Richards I watched perfect display of batting and perfect display of tackling short ball. In England against mighty SA pace attack and overcast conditions..... Nobody have imagined the batting display from Rohit and Dhavan. Specially Rohit showed perfect technic against short ball whether Morkel, Tsotsobe or any other. After Richards I haven't seen anybody playing short ball in English condition so well. Rohit is a big match player. He failed in warm-up matches but timely played a big knock so as Dhavan.their opening stand help India to get huge score of 336. Fantastic beginning for India, Rohit and Dhavan. If anything India has to worry, it's bowling attack. Except Jadeja no Indian bowler showed promise. Dhoti has to find solution fast. Ashvin is finding it difficult on English tracks. Ishant, Bhuvi, Umesh too looked like confused. Congrates India!

2nd_Slip
on June 6, 2013, 17:40 GMT

Robin Peterson's run out was key had it not happened at that time we might be talking a different storey all together. India are doing what SA have been doing in the previous ICC tournaments, reaching peak form way too early, seriously think they will not keep this up. Actually I think they will be the ones who choke this time around. Also disappointed that the bowling unit allowed a pathetic player like Nohit Sharma to score that many runs!! Next game Steyn for Kleinveldt.

TESTnT20
on June 6, 2013, 17:36 GMT

heaven on the earth!!! a 26 run win is BIG win!!!

DILEEPMJOHN
on June 6, 2013, 17:34 GMT

congratz India. But lots of improvement needed to be successful in upcoming matches. Pace Bowling is not firing and pacers forgets about bowling yorkers.
There was hardly any pacers trying to bowl yorkers until i saw the last over from Bhuvi. South Africa are known to be weak against Spinners and hence not
to read too much in spinners bowling figures too.Batting looks solid with 3 back to back 300+ scores.

on June 6, 2013, 17:34 GMT

WELL DONE INDIA. Their variety in batting and bowling (inclusion of Jadeja and Dhavan) win them the match.

Temuzin
on June 6, 2013, 17:32 GMT

Sir Jadeja has shown his worth once again. Easily the Best bowler in the match, best fielder and best strike rate at death ends. Go SIR go. Sir should be selected man of the match.

Haleos
on June 6, 2013, 17:27 GMT

Supposedly worst bowling attack of the tournament has taken 10 wickets yet again. Abliet off the last ball but opposition is all out none the less. Lets see what the best attack does tomorrow. @Pyketts - off for some humble pie my friend? lol.

siri12345
on June 6, 2013, 17:26 GMT

extremely lucky win for india.nothing worked for sa today.morne morkel got injured at a crucial time and missed 3.1 vital overs of bowling which atlast proved to be the difference of runs between both the teams.had morne morkel bowled his full quota of overs india would have scored 25 runs less and at the end would have lost the game.its such a pity that the rules didnt allow morne to have a runner atleast while batting.if he would have had a runner then who knows match might have been more close.cricinfo.....publish.

kumarcoolbuddy
on June 6, 2013, 17:23 GMT

For some reason I used to support Ishant Sharma a lot but looking at his horrifying performance these days I started feeling to take back my support. Even if India wins this game there is a big concern with bowling especially death bowling who cannot take one last wicket and allowed McLaren to complete his half century with ease.

Haleos
on June 6, 2013, 17:18 GMT

Sir J out performed the best spinner yet again. Ashwin should make way for irfan. Dont know why dhoni keeps persisting with him in limited overs. He is hugely overrated. Nothing but a part timer.

Unmesh_cric
on June 6, 2013, 17:09 GMT

I had commented yesterday during the match preview that Rohit should play as an opener. I am glad I am vindicated. He played well as an opener in one of the recent ODI matches against England. He had scored a fluent 80-something in that match. I have no doubt that Rohit will do well as an opener. When he plays in the middle order in ODIs, he has a confused approach..whether to attack or consolidate. As an opener, he is more positive in his shot-making. The new hard ball with field up in the circle gives full value for his shots and a license to play his shots freely. Also, he is one of the few Indian players who can play short ball well. So if the opposition is going to test the openers will short-pitched stuff, they will have second thoughts with Rohit being there.

Jits_SRTian
on June 6, 2013, 17:06 GMT

@rajcan
Sachin justified his presence by delivering all the time. A lot of players have been given an extended run. Rohit sharma, Ishant Sharma, Ashwin, Jadeja, raina etc.. Check sachin's record/. he was un-drop-able. Look at his domestic records. Your comment suggests he was the benefit of charity by the board. It was pure merit. Lot of players have played for a long long time yet they will nowhere come to what the little master has achieved. nowhere.. Dravid and ganguly both got good runs so did Azhar etc. 34 means dhoni will have to be shown the door soon. Make logical comments. A lot of guys mature around that time.. 34 is not the age when a man becomes useless.. very illogical and thoughtless comment

on June 6, 2013, 17:05 GMT

Protease should have included Farhan Behardean istead of JP Dummny. Behardean is a good batsman as well as a powerful hitter.

on June 6, 2013, 17:00 GMT

I said many times before without the capyaincy of Graham Smith and Jarque Kallis this team will get nowhere in any comptition. Ingram can only get runs in the local cometition. No BMT.

binu.emiliya
on June 6, 2013, 16:52 GMT

Some people was posting here only two batsmen of India is in form the others are Rohith is nohit, Dhawan as one match wonder,Jadeja is good only in subcontinet pitches, now what?

SurlyCynic
on June 6, 2013, 16:31 GMT

The runouts have been a joke, but the bowling was where SA lost this game. How Kleinveldt is in this squad ahead of bowlers like Philander and Morris I'll never know. I think he is the worst bowler ever to represent SA in international cricket and I can't understand how he keeps getting selected.

on June 6, 2013, 16:25 GMT

dis indians arenot going to make any change SOUTH AFRICANS will surely find the win anyway

Prakmca
on June 6, 2013, 16:06 GMT

Good, India played Rohit today in opening slot, not Vijay. Rohit technique is better than Vijay. Problem with Rohit, is he simply throw the wicket away by playing unnecessary shots or sometimes playing cross line too earlyin the innings. I am not Rohit supporter, but we don't have good opener at this moment. If Rohit learns from his past mistakes, he can survive. Rahane is another Vijay.....Who plays with different mind set in domestic and international matches....

2nd_Slip
on June 6, 2013, 15:47 GMT

Predicting a quick-fire 50+ from Miller to snatch the game form the Indians grasp right at the death!!

TheBigBoodha
on June 6, 2013, 15:39 GMT

@desihungama, so India "has a good decent bowling attack"? Ishant averages 32, Kumar 35, Yadav 46. Thee are your strike bowlers! You think these guys are going to do anything on these lame tracks? I predict all will finish the competition with even higher averages. Meanwhile guys like Starc, McKay and Steyn average 19-22. I'm afraid one decent practice game isn't evidence of anything.

Pyketts
on June 6, 2013, 15:20 GMT

I agree with a lot of the comments on here re the flat pitches we keep seeing. It isn't good for cricket to have bat continually dominate over ball.

In relation to this game I can see SA chasing this total down as, despite some comments on here, the Indian side isn't that strong (either batting or bowling) and SA will have enough to see them off on a flat pitch.

Jadejafan
on June 6, 2013, 14:57 GMT

Flat wickets are getting boring now. I mean nothing for bowlers and everything for batsman and that equals massive of runs. Also 4 fielders outside the circle is a bad idea and ruins bowlers bowling averages and economy rates and increases batsman batting averages and strike rates. In my opinion there should only be upto 15 overs of powerplays where only 2 fielders are outside the circle and the rest of the overs, you should have fielders anywhere you want. And to add a bit of spice, the best bowler of each team on the day should be allowed to bowl an extra 2 overs so instead of 10 for him, will have a quota of 12 overs.

Master_Mihil
on June 6, 2013, 14:55 GMT

India can chase any total with that batting line-up. If only they had such strong bowling line-up as well..Thank god!!

rajcan
on June 6, 2013, 14:51 GMT

If you have talent, opportunity and enough time is given, you will be able to break records. Nothing to take away from Sachin's accomplishment, he was given opportunity to play for India at the age of 16, and he has been given 24 years continuously play for India without a fear of being dropped. Could we have another Sachin??, unless we give opportunity to a young kid to play for India and allow him to play continuously without fear of being dropped if he is good with bat.

Dhawan has started showing class of batting and the talent he poses, but was not given a chance since India had set opening pair. Dhawan had to wait until age of 27 to get a chance to play for India.

This is why we need to give chances for youngsters no matter how good are seniors. If we have senior players performing well but get going till 40 and above, we are only letting that individual break records but not helping India or youngsters. We need to have age limit for national team, I would say 34.

Desihungama
on June 6, 2013, 14:48 GMT

So S. Africa wins the toss and sends India in on cold chilly morning and then bowled short. Wow. Isn't that taking leaf out of what Pakistan did just two days ago? But wait. They didn't bowl short. Wasim Akram had emphasized to Pak bowlers to bowl "Good" length at this time of the year in England. You need to to have a good all around bowling attack to succeed in these conditions and I must admit India finally has that good decent bowling attack along with Pakistan and England.

on June 6, 2013, 14:42 GMT

Looking at SA performance what could I say "Form is temporary but Class is permanent"

TheBigBoodha
on June 6, 2013, 14:41 GMT

Wouldn't be surprised to see SA chase thee runs down - a lame pitch and a lame attack. 330? I'd call it even stevens. Can't see India lucking 3 inside edges and a dud caught behind to get rid of most of the top order again.

Resultpredictor
on June 6, 2013, 12:09 GMT

To all experts, critics, commentators and ex players remember India is the favourite team to win this CT and no team have firepower to stop India from winning Champions Trophy. Change your minds. Its India and only India. Jai Ho....

rsnl
on June 6, 2013, 12:05 GMT

@Baseball-Sucks: Even if it is flat track or whatever it is same for both the team. Your comments make me laugh most of the time.

on June 6, 2013, 12:00 GMT

Incredible start for India, are we witnessing the dawn of a golden age in Indian batting? Some of these young guys coming through are really making an impact. Can't see Sehwag or Gambhir playing anymore international cricket.

rezawazir
on June 6, 2013, 11:54 GMT

solid start for india.. from both openers..

Baseball-Sucks
on June 6, 2013, 11:49 GMT

Why can't English curators provide some lively pitches for these CT matches. There is nothing for bowlers, completely a dead pitch. These flat highways make these matches so boring. Btw this a perfect pitch for Indian flat track bullies. Anyway, Saffers have got a strong batting line. They will win the match easily.

Jayzuz
on June 6, 2013, 11:41 GMT

@Haleos, "foreign conditions". Give me a break! These are the most Indian conditions India will ever experience outside the sub-continent.

Jayzuz
on June 6, 2013, 11:39 GMT

Is your question serious, @Naresh28? Obviously you haven't been watching the games live. India has been served up the perfect conditions for its batsmen for this comp. Not a blade of grass on the pitches. The test match pitches were normal English pitches with a healthy covering of grass. There has been a 180 degree turn in pitch preparation policy for this series. I wonder what kind of tracks will be served up for the Ashes series. I suspect there will be a magical reappearance of grass for that one.

Jayzuz
on June 6, 2013, 11:35 GMT

I couldn't care less who wins this game, but I have to ask the same question again. Why are these pitches almost the same as sub-continent tracks - dry, grassless, lifeless? This is in Cardiff, right? It seems to be the worst of the lot. After the shine has gone off the new ball the quicks may as well go home. I note also that my comment about the SA second stringers appears to be correct (although the pitch doesn't help). The pitches they have been serving up in SA are the greenest in the world - almost like bowling greens. Its no wonder the bowlers don't know what to do here. We saw a similar thing in the SA tour to Australia, where the SA quicks got absolutely massacred in the first two tests.

AricentHarish
on June 6, 2013, 11:25 GMT

@ Naresh, even New Zealand did not score 225 + in the 2 tests, but had gone past that score in all the 3 ODIs. How would you explain that ? Anyway, the Indian scores in the warm up games were mainly due to the 2 partnerships - Kohli & DK in the 1st ODI and MS & DK in the 2nd. And in that test tour, a couple of years back, Dravid was running out of partners. This explains the importance of partnerships in cricket, I guess.

wanatawu
on June 6, 2013, 11:22 GMT

I just can't Believe that better bowlers like Chris Morris, Hardus Viljoen, Marchant De lange even Abbott and Philander don't get a change at ODIs while guys like Mclaren, Kleinveldt and Tsotsobe are regulars.

SaadRocx
on June 6, 2013, 11:14 GMT

Here we go,choking clouds are crawling over South Africa yet again...,drenching them wet under their rain lol

mthi4life
on June 6, 2013, 10:53 GMT

Wow besides Morkel the rest of the Protea's bowlers are very expensive.I do not want to see Dhoni with a good foundation.

Haleos
on June 6, 2013, 10:51 GMT

It is in foreign conditions when true character and talent of the cricketer comes out. Vijayi played well in few tests in India. Outside India and in limited overs he is below average. Worse than Rohit. So Rohit over vijayi anyday. His ODI records is not bad. And wait till he plays regularly in the test team. The format he is best suited for. So is Rahane. All these vijayis and co are overrated.

Naresh28
on June 6, 2013, 10:49 GMT

Question - How does India manage to score 2 x 300plus scores in ODI's and failed
to reach 300 in tests in England? Due the batsman lack patience for the longer
version?

I am not talking about the outcome of the match but just the first 10-12 overs. Here we have an important lesson to learn. I've read many say indians cant play the short ball or the back of a length ball. Well theres a word for it, its called 'stereotyping'. It is not only wrong, but pathetically displays lack of sound judgement. There were many indian batsmen like that but to entirely rubbish every batsman from india like that is a laughable mistake. If the bowlers dont learn that Rohit sharma aka lord of the ring is very good in playing such balls, teams would pay dearly! and fans who comment as such should also take a cue from this please when they rubbish a team!Wish the sa bowlers would learn quick, have u watched the no of short balls this morning?

Haleos
on June 6, 2013, 9:50 GMT

Right decision by dhoni to play Rohit instead of VijayI. Rohit has better technique. Irfan should have replaced the overrated Ashwin.

andrew27994
on June 7, 2013, 2:37 GMT

Excellent performance from India. Great opening partnership and excellent fielding. Yesterday's match proved that we can be a better fielding side than even SA. However, I'm a bit disappointed that we didn't capitalise fully on the start provided by the openers and the other disappointing factor was when our bowlers struggled to get the last wicket. We could've easily won by 50+ runs which could've boosted our NRR. Anyways hopefully it doesn't hurt us in the end like it did in T20 WC 2012.

SA clearly missed Kallis as the situation needed someone like him to anchor the innings. Unfortunately SA had no choice but to send in a lower order batsman to do that job. The biggest misfortune was the run out of Miller who could've done some damage and given SA a reasonable chance of chasing the total.

Thyagu5432
on June 7, 2013, 1:00 GMT

330+ to chase means the chasing team has to maintain a brisk rate right through the innings and they cannot do it without taking any risks. When Ashwin came on to bowl, SA was going at nearly 8 an over and when Ashwin had bowled 7 overs, he had given only 28 runs. Brilliant stuff, that really turned things around. He was plain unlucky not to have got a few wickets. And then the other spinners joined the party along with the fielders. A few brilliant run outs choked SA further and 330 went further and further away. Great performance by India. Dhoni, as usual, cool as a cucumber marshalled his resources to perfection. I think Jadeja deserved the MOM with contributions from bat, ball and the field.

2.14istherunrate
on June 6, 2013, 20:21 GMT

I would say that the competition has started off fortuitously with 600 runs in a day and lovely weather. It was good win for India first up so that they hold an immediate advantage in their group. I think spin will play a major part at Cardiff while both other venues will offer some help too. Dhawan looks a great player-it is impressive how India can just turn up a new batsman of quality so easil. Yadav's pace is also impressive and Sharma looks to have grown up a lot. They are lucky too to have such a big fan base already here. South Africa did well at the end but lack a major batsman and look to be the tournament 's early unlucky side with main bowlers going down fast. McClean had a great day but he was a lone hand at the end,though they will fight hard to make it the semis.

Nampally
on June 6, 2013, 18:01 GMT

Despite compiling a huge total of 330 runs in 50 overs, India was lucky to win the match by 25 runs. The pitch appeared to be a batting paradise. India had excellent opening by Dhawan & Rohit. But with 210 runs on board in 35 overs, it was the late batting heroics of Dhoni & Jadeja which enabled India to add another 120 runs in the last 15 overs. However even 330 looked unsafe total till Peterson was run out to make 155 for 3. Then a sudden loss of 3 more wkts within a space of 6 runs put India in command. But MacLaren had different ideas with a brilliant unbeaten 71 nearly carried SA to victory till he ran out of partners. The pace bowlers on both the sides were v. expensive! SA's top 3 seamers gave 230 runs in 30 overs - Morkel only beacon of light with about 6 overs @ 5 runs/over. The 3 Indian seamers gave 190 runs in 25 overs. Spinners Ashwin, Jadeja & Raina saved the bacon for India with 114 runs in 25 overs to help them carry over the finish line. Great century by Dhawan, Bravo!

Haleos
on June 6, 2013, 9:50 GMT

Right decision by dhoni to play Rohit instead of VijayI. Rohit has better technique. Irfan should have replaced the overrated Ashwin.

aby__prasad
on June 6, 2013, 10:38 GMT

I am not talking about the outcome of the match but just the first 10-12 overs. Here we have an important lesson to learn. I've read many say indians cant play the short ball or the back of a length ball. Well theres a word for it, its called 'stereotyping'. It is not only wrong, but pathetically displays lack of sound judgement. There were many indian batsmen like that but to entirely rubbish every batsman from india like that is a laughable mistake. If the bowlers dont learn that Rohit sharma aka lord of the ring is very good in playing such balls, teams would pay dearly! and fans who comment as such should also take a cue from this please when they rubbish a team!Wish the sa bowlers would learn quick, have u watched the no of short balls this morning?

Question - How does India manage to score 2 x 300plus scores in ODI's and failed
to reach 300 in tests in England? Due the batsman lack patience for the longer
version?

Haleos
on June 6, 2013, 10:51 GMT

It is in foreign conditions when true character and talent of the cricketer comes out. Vijayi played well in few tests in India. Outside India and in limited overs he is below average. Worse than Rohit. So Rohit over vijayi anyday. His ODI records is not bad. And wait till he plays regularly in the test team. The format he is best suited for. So is Rahane. All these vijayis and co are overrated.

mthi4life
on June 6, 2013, 10:53 GMT

Wow besides Morkel the rest of the Protea's bowlers are very expensive.I do not want to see Dhoni with a good foundation.

SaadRocx
on June 6, 2013, 11:14 GMT

Here we go,choking clouds are crawling over South Africa yet again...,drenching them wet under their rain lol

wanatawu
on June 6, 2013, 11:22 GMT

I just can't Believe that better bowlers like Chris Morris, Hardus Viljoen, Marchant De lange even Abbott and Philander don't get a change at ODIs while guys like Mclaren, Kleinveldt and Tsotsobe are regulars.

AricentHarish
on June 6, 2013, 11:25 GMT

@ Naresh, even New Zealand did not score 225 + in the 2 tests, but had gone past that score in all the 3 ODIs. How would you explain that ? Anyway, the Indian scores in the warm up games were mainly due to the 2 partnerships - Kohli & DK in the 1st ODI and MS & DK in the 2nd. And in that test tour, a couple of years back, Dravid was running out of partners. This explains the importance of partnerships in cricket, I guess.

Jayzuz
on June 6, 2013, 11:35 GMT

I couldn't care less who wins this game, but I have to ask the same question again. Why are these pitches almost the same as sub-continent tracks - dry, grassless, lifeless? This is in Cardiff, right? It seems to be the worst of the lot. After the shine has gone off the new ball the quicks may as well go home. I note also that my comment about the SA second stringers appears to be correct (although the pitch doesn't help). The pitches they have been serving up in SA are the greenest in the world - almost like bowling greens. Its no wonder the bowlers don't know what to do here. We saw a similar thing in the SA tour to Australia, where the SA quicks got absolutely massacred in the first two tests.